Kathmandu, July 5 -- Prime Minister Balendra Shah, who had avoided one-on-one meetings with foreign officials, is set to hold his first such meeting with Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda.

Kanda will be the first foreign official to meet the Prime Minister individually. According to a senior foreign ministry official, Shah will meet the ADB president on Tuesday. Kanda is set to talk to Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and other government officials on Monday before seeing the prime minister.

Kanda will be accompanied by senior ADB officials, including Sona Shrestha, a Nepali citizen appointed vice-president for South, Central and West Asia. Foreign policy observers describe the prime minister's strict protocol on meetings with...