Kathmandu, Sept. 19 -- More than 4,400 people applied for Nepal's vacant ambassadorial positions when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened the selection process to the public in May. After screening out duplicate and incomplete applications, officials narrowed the pool to around 2,700 candidates.

Five months later, the government on Friday recommended 13 of them as Nepal's next ambassadors, including to India, China and the United States.

The remaining nine ambassadorial recommendations will be made after Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal returns from New York, where he is attending the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The recommendations followed several days of consultations after the Foreign Ministry prepared a li...