Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KATHMANDU808
2009-08-31 09:19:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL'S NEXT ENVOY TO U.S. IS COMPETENT TECHNOCRAT

Tags:  PREL PGOV PINR CH IN NP 
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INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7097
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7415
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 2746
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 5457
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 6581
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3196
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0481
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 4729
RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3636
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000808 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/INSB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR CH IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL'S NEXT ENVOY TO U.S. IS COMPETENT TECHNOCRAT

REF: KATHMANDU 705

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Jeffrey A. Moon. Reasons 1.4 (
b/d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000808

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/INSB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR CH IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL'S NEXT ENVOY TO U.S. IS COMPETENT TECHNOCRAT

REF: KATHMANDU 705

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Jeffrey A. Moon. Reasons 1.4 (
b/d).


1. (C) Summary: Shankar Prasad Sharma, Nepal's
Ambassador-Designate to the United States of America, is a
longtime economic adviser to the Government of Nepal (GON)
who has also been a personal adviser to the family of Nepali
Congress chairman G.P. Koirala. He received his Ph.D. in
economics from the University of Hawaii and has extensive
experience in economic research and international
institutions. He is currently a World Bank consultant to the
Constituent Assembly's constitutional drafting committee on
Natural Resources, Economic Rights and Sharing of Revenues.
Sharma told Charge on August 31 he will seek to promote
economic development and trade during his time in Washington.
End summary.

Surprise Selection?
--------------

2. (C) On August 31, Shankar Prasad Sharma, a longtime
economic adviser to the Government of Nepal (GON) and a
personal adviser to the family of Nepali Congress chairman
G.P. Koirala, told Charge that he did not lobby for an
ambassadorship and was surprised to learn from the media of
his nomination as Ambassador to the United States. Sharma
said he was in Bangladesh when the GON announced his
nomination in late July and missed repeated phone calls to
his home to notify him. Sharma does not consider himself a
political person. He said he was never involved in student
politics, a rite of passage for most prominent Nepalis.
Sharma has attempted to stay above partisan politics in his
advisory roles. Though anti-Maoist and against communism in
general, he said he knows Maoist chairman Pushpa Dahal well
and is able to work with the range of political parties.

U.S. - Nepal Relations
--------------

3. (C) The Charge explained to Sharma that U.S.-Nepal
relations were strong and the American people generally had a
favorable impression of Nepal. Sharma said he was eager to
make contacts in Washington and added that after he received
agrement, he would also reach out to key people in the GON
and relevant organizations in Nepal. He was vague on what

exactly he hoped to accomplish as Ambassador but noted he
would like to promote economic development and trade
relations. He said he would like the United States to be
more active in speaking out against "communism" and engaging
India on Nepal's behalf. (Comment: Sharma subsequently
clarified that his reference to "communism" was to the
activities of the Maoist party. End comment.) Sharma said
he would welcome briefings from post about U.S. goals for the
bilateral relationship. Charge noted the strong U.S.
interest in the human rights situation both in Nepal and in
neighboring Tibet. Charge advised the Ambassador-Designate
to reach out to Congress to address human rights concerns and
to win support for economic assistance.

Current Activities and Special Knowledge
--------------

4. (C) Sharma is knowledgeable about a range of issues and
is an expert on energy and macroeconomics. In his role as a
consultant to the Constituent Assembly (CA),a World
Bank-supported position he began in May 2009, he has drafted
a significant portion of the concept paper for the Committee
on Natural Resources, Economic Rights and Sharing of
Revenues, one of 14 CA committees established to work on the
new constitution. Sharma's work with the CA and his
exploration of difficult political and economic questions
enable him to talk at depth about the peace process.
Addressing the issue of former Maoist People's Liberation
Army combatants, he told the Charge that promulgating a new
constitution before integration would be "disastrous."
Sharma has also been a consultant for the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) since 2006. He co-directed a project for a

KATHMANDU 00000808 002 OF 002


regional development strategy and is currently the team
leader for the ADB- and Finance Ministry-sponsored Economic
Policy Network Project.

Professional Background
--------------

5. (SBU) Sharma has extensive experience in economic
research, international institutions and government. Before
joining the National Planning Commission in 1997 -- of which
he was Vice Chairman from 2002 to 2006 -- Sharma worked as a
senior economic adviser for the Ministry of Finance (December
1995 to May 1998). He also was a professor of economics at
Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu from 1994 to 1997. He was
a senior economist at the Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies in Singapore (1986-93) and a fellow at the East-West
Center in Hawaii (December 1984 - April 1985 and October -
December 1986).

Familiar with the United States
--------------

6. (SBU) Sharma's career has taken him to the United States
several times. He lived in Hawaii for seven years (1979-86)
while a graduate student at the University of Hawaii and a
fellow at the East-West Center. He visited various energy
and environmental projects on a week-long trip sponsored by
the USG and the United States Energy Association in 1991. He
again traveled to United States at the invitation of the USG
on an International Visitors Program for International Trade
in 2002, the same year he accompanied the Prime Minister to
New York.

Biodata
--------------

7. (SBU) Sharma was born on July 15, 1952. He grew up in
Kathmandu, but his family originally is from Okhaldhunga, in
the hills of eastern Nepal. Sharma has an M.A. (1981) and a
Ph.D. in Economics (1984) from the University of Hawaii at
Manoa with a specialization in economic development,
econometrics, economics of population, and mathematical
economics. He also has an M.Sc in Statistics (1974) from
Tribhuvan University. He has a wife and two children: his
son is studying for an undergraduate degree in business
administration at the State University of New York in
Buffalo, and his daughter is in medical school in Pokhara,
Nepal. Sharma, who has traveled widely, describes his
hobbies as "study and research," walking, and "social
services." He speaks English fluently.

Comment
--------------

8. (C) Post believes that Sharma will be a capable
ambassador. He is a sharp technocrat who does not appear to
pander to ideology, regardless of the fact G.P. Koirala
cherry-picked him as a Nepali Congress insider to become
Ambassador to the United States. He is anti-Maoist but says
he is able to work with them -- a sign he may have longevity
as the ambassador to the United States even if the GON
changes. Sharma has a forthcoming although low-key style; he
is unlikely to be entertaining to a large audience but
clearly conveys his substantive knowledge in conversation.
Despite his vagueness on what he hopes to accomplish as
Ambassador, we judge that he will be eager to engage a wide
range of contacts in Washington and promote economic
development and trade. Post will use future meetings with
the Ambassador-Designate to lay out U.S. interests in Nepal,
particularly regarding human rights. We have forwarded the
GON's formal request for agrement and Sharma's curriculum
vitae to SCA/INSB.
MOON