Cabinet meeting today, recommendation of ambassadors main agenda

The regular Council of Ministers meeting will convene at the Prime Minister's office at 4 p.m., a minister has said. These sessions are usually held on Thursdays and Mondays, however the Monday meeting this week has been moved to Friday.

According to sources, the appointment of ambassadors to take up 11 open positions would be suggested at today's meeting. The ambassadorial selections were confirmed yesterday evening by UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, RSP President Rabi Lamichhane, and Prime Minister Prachanda.

Under the agreement, UML is set to appoint 8 ambassadors, RSP 2, and the Maoists 1 ambassador. Following the recall of ambassadors from 11 countries in the previous cabinet meeting, including India, the USA, UK, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Malaysia, Spain, Denmark, Israel, Qatar, and Portugal, recommendations will be made for their replacements.

Sources say that Yuvraj Khatiwada, Lokdarshan Regmi, Dawa Phuti Sherpa, Narayan Sangraula, Udayraj Pandey, Sharmila Parajuli, Nirmal Bishwakarma, and other individuals are being considered as UML's ambassadorial candidates. A few of these candidates were recalled as ambassadors in the past due to coalition changes.

"We are preparing to nominate both new faces and some who have served before, but the final decisions will be made by Chairman Oli," stated a UML official. As with its ministerial nominations, UML has said that ambassador appointments will adhere to the '10 equals 1' rule, meaning that one minister or ambassador is equal to ten Members of Parliament.