Kathmandu, April 29 -- The government is set to announce vacancy notices to appoint ambassadors, multiple officials from the Foreign Ministry told the Post. This would be the first instance in Nepal of an ambassadorial appointment being made through an open competition.

Earlier, in 2019, the then KP Sharma Oli government had set a criteria for ambassadors applicable to those appointed through political quotas. But successive governments flouted that criteria.

In Nepal, ambassadors are appointed in two ways-either from among officials serving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who are also often called 'career diplomats', or they are selected by the political parties in power.

The Guidelines on the Appointment of the Ambassadors, 2075 B...