Development Diplomacy For Prosperity

With the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) securing almost two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, the party’s senior leader, Balen Shah, has assumed the office of prime minister. The new RSP government is now set to implement its commitments expressed in the election manifesto on a priority basis. It has promised to address several issues but its urgent focus seems to be on good governance, the economic sector and foreign policy front around which many other issues revolve.  

Foreign policy is definitely a key area of governance.  Pragmatic and astute handling of foreign policy plays a key role in the success and failure of any government, especially in countries with geopolitical complexities like ours. This is so because foreign policy is the extension of domestic policy and foreign policy conduct is closely linked with several other matters, including national security, economic prosperity and national interests. The international situation is already volatile with conflicts in the Middle East and Europe. Our region is likely to be hit harder as the Middle East war has already disrupted the energy supply line. 

Conflict for domination 

The 21st century’s geopolitics is starkly different from that of the last 100 years.  Asia has emerged as the epicentre of international power rivalry owing mainly to China’s rise. The US has taken China’s rise as the principal threat to its dominant role in the world. History is witness that the existing superpower always seeks to contain the emerging superpower. This, according to American political scientist Graham Allison, makes conflict inevitable between the reigning superpower and the rising superpower. The United States, the existing superpower of the day, has the sole strategic objective to contain the emerging superpower China.  Accordingly, these two powers have their own strategies and counter-strategies in the region.  

India is also a rising power and another key player in Asian geopolitics. India considers South Asia as its sphere of influence and does not want other powers to poke their nose in South Asian affairs. This creates triangular geopolitical rivalry in our neighbourhood, which has added challenges to countries like Nepal in handling foreign policy and diplomacy, aligning with their national interests. India and China are our immediate neighbours with whom we have multi-layered engagements and relations. These two neighbours have their own concerns and interests, which sometimes match and often collide. American presence in the Indo-Pacific region is already visible, which Beijing may have taken with unease. 

Additionally, Nepal’s geographical location is in itself strategic in the present complex geopolitical situation. Thus, Nepal needs to navigate its diplomacy, taking all these factors into serious consideration. Safeguarding our national interest is our core objective but at the same time, we must address the core and genuine concerns of our neighbours as well as other development partners. It thus requires greater balance and strategic acumen. The task is definitely challenging but achievable, as Nepal has successfully proven its diplomatic smartness even during the toughest time in history, when international power rivalry was more critical.   

Amidst this tough time of intense power rivalry in Asia and the Pacific region, the RSP has risen to the saddle of power with the colossal responsibility of enhancing the country’s larger interest, international image and diplomatic standing in the community of nations through pragmatic foreign policy handling and astute diplomatic knack. The RSP leaders seem to be well aware of current geopolitical complexities and Nepal’s foreign policy and diplomatic compulsions that necessitate us to handle diplomacy in a smarter manner in order to maximize national interests and translate them into national prosperity.  

The RSP in its election manifesto has articulated some of the key issues and priorities to be taken up by the government for the larger national interest of the nation. Given the geo-political location and other complexities, Nepal cannot afford to depart from the long-held positions and policies of non-alignment. Geography, geopolitics, the behaviour of neighbours and national strength shape a country’s foreign policy. The new government, perhaps, understands this reality and is expected to move ahead accordingly. 

It is necessary to focus on economic diplomacy for prosperity. In this connection, the RSP has coined a new phrase, ‘development diplomacy’, implying that efforts of our diplomacy will be focused on the country’s economic prosperity. Development diplomacy is a combination of all other diplomatic strategies, tools and tactics applied so far, mainly concentrating on the economic and social development of the country. This is a hybrid term of official, political, economic, public diplomacy and all other forms and methods of diplomacy.

Apart from promoting friendly and cooperative relations with all our friends, especially key development partners, development or economic diplomacy seeks to emphasise areas of enhancing economic cooperation, bringing investment, enhancing export trade, promoting tourism, and creating a safe and dignified atmosphere for our diaspora working in different countries. This requires enhancing our internal strength, competitiveness and resilience so that friends and investors can better trust. For this, reforms in our legal and administrative mechanisms are needed so that investors and business persons may not face bureaucratic and other multiple hurdles.  

Potential 

Nepal definitely has potential for investment and trade, which we should effectively showcase in the world. Nepal has immense soft power. We have Pashupatinath, Lumbini, the world’s highest peak, Sagarmatha (Mount Everest), mighty Himalayas, unique nature and rich art, architecture and culture. These are Nepal’s prime assets that can attract tens of millions of tourists. But we have not fully realised these potentials. Now, the focus of economic and development diplomacy should be to promote these assets abroad. 

Our missions abroad are our mouths, ears and eyes that can play a more proactive role in advancing development diplomacy. But the missions are poorly equipped and are facing problems, including inadequate budget and staff, which have impeded their efficiency and effectiveness. Similarly, the Foreign Ministry, too, needs to be restructured and strengthened to enable it to effectively act commensurate with our objectives and priorities in foreign policy and the diplomatic front. We have a large number of Nepali diaspora in different countries. Nepal should effectively mobilise them for our diplomatic outreach but we have not been effective so far. Development diplomacy, perhaps, would focus on these areas and maximize benefits for the larger interest of Nepal.

(The author is a former chief editor of this daily and a former ambassador. lamsalyubanath@gmail.com)