12 November 2018, Kathmandu
At a cabinet meeting held yesterday, the Nepal Government appointed Dr. Rajan Bhattarai as the Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli.
Dr. Bhattarai is a Central Committee member of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and a member the International Department of CPN (UML) since 2006.
Known as an international affairs expert in NCP, Dr. Bhattarai has served in the same capacity for two times earlier as well, He was a Foreign Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and to Premier Oli during his earlier tenure..
Born in 1968 in Kathmandu, Dr. Bhattarai earned Ph. D. degree in 2011 from Jawaharlal University, School of International Studies, New Delhi, India, in 2011. Earlier, he obtained M.A. in International Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in the United Kingdom; and completed B.A. in Economics and English from Tri-Chandra College of Tribhuvan University, in Kathmandu.
Dr. Bhattarai is a former member of Legislature Parliament (Sambidhan Sabha). Since February 2016, he has been a member in the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal India Relations (EPG-NIR).
In the past, Dr. Bhattarai has held a number of eminent positions and responsibilities. He was a Senior Vice-President, Young Politicians of International Conference of Asian Political Parties in September 2012; Secretary, International Department of CPN (UML) from 1996 to 2000 and again 2003 to 2006; and Secretary, Asian Students Association (ASA), Hong Kong from 1993 – 1996.
During student days, Dr. Bhattarai also served as Chief of Foreign Department of ANNFSU, Kathmandu, from 1991 to 1992. ANNFSU is a national student’s organization working mainly for students’ rights, democracy and human rights since 1965.
A scholar and prolific writer, Dr. Bhattarai has written a book “Geopolitics of Nepal and International Responses to Conflict Transformation” which was published in February 2005. He edited three books — “Human Security in Nepal: Concept, Issues and Challenges, “Emerging Security Challenges of Nepal”, and “Changing Security Dynamics in Nepal” – published respectively in 2012, 2010, and 2009.
Fluent in Nepali, English and Hindi languages, Dr. Bhattarai has been a contributing columnist for “The Himalayan Times” and “The Kathmandu Post”, two English language daily newspapers published from Kathmandu. In addition, he has written for “ASA News”, ASA’s official magazine; “Movement News”, ASA’s newsletter; “SEED-Links” published from the Netherlands; “News Letter” published from Hannover, Germany; and contributed articles to various other Nepali journals, magazines and weekly papers.
Dr. Bhattarai has visited various countries as a member of delegation of the Nepalese Prime Minister’s state/official visits. He has participated and presented papers on international and national seminars, workshops and conferences in the field of security, conflict, democracy, international relations and other social and economic issues.
