India, Sept. 13 -- On the day a dozen of world leaders gathered at Bharat Mandapam, less than 500 miles from Kathmandu, Nepal's ministry of foreign affairs held its regular press briefing. It was focused on Prime Minister (PM) Balendra Shah's upcoming trip to New York for the UN General Assembly later this month. It said nothing about the delegation's plans for the BRICS summit unfolding in New Delhi. That silence, tells what has gone wrong with Nepal's foreign policy this week.

The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, is not a routine diplomatic gathering that a small Himalayan State can ignore. BRICS is a grouping of major emerging markets and developing countries. The group began with Brazil, Russia, India and China, then added South Afric...