Balananda Sharma appointed Nepal's new foreign minister

Kathmandu: Lt Gen (retd) Balananda Sharma was appointed Nepal's foreign affairs minister on Friday.

President Ramchandra Paudel administered the oath of office and secrecy to Sharma at the President's Office in Sheetal Niwas, according to a notice issued by his office.

This is the fifth Cabinet expansion by Prime Minister Sushila Karki, who leads an interim government mandated to hold the general elections on March 5.

With Sharma's induction, the strength of Karki’s Council of Ministers has risen to 15.

PM Karki, Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut, Vice-President Ramsahay Prasad Yadav, and other senior officials were present at the oath taking ceremony.

According to a report in The Kathmandu Post newspaper, Sharma played a key role in the integration of Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army.

After the then CPN (Maoist) joined the peace process in 2006, he served as coordinator of the technical committee on army integration.

Sharma served nearly 39 years in the Nepali Army, holding leadership roles at various levels, and was deployed in international peacekeeping missions for nearly four years, the report said.

He also served as the chief of the Covid-19 Crisis Management Committee (CCMC) during the pandemic.