Nepal nodes for third country settlement

Kathmandu, March 10: Government has agreed to let the exiled Bhutanese to settle in third country if they wish to do so.

Dr Suresh Chalise, foreign advisor of the Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala told media persons in Kathmandu on Saturday that Nepal government is ready to allow the exiled Bhutanese, who wish, to settle in third country.

The fact was disclosed after the meeting between visiting Under Secretary of State for Management Henrietta H. Fore in Kathmandu, in which Chalise and US ambassador to Nepal James F. Moriarty was present.

Earlier, the Norwegian government had also showed interest to settle exiled Bhutanese it its court as part of its help to find durable solution of the two-decade long crisis.

US government has been saying that it was willing to resettle over 60,000 of the 106,000 exiled Bhutanese, to which the government has not yet given formal permission. The US government has already begun the process to establish OPE office in Kathmandu to resettle the exiled Bhutanese in the next 4-5 years.

Following the news of OPE establishment in Kathmandu by July 1, Foreign Minister of Nepal K. P. Oli, who is also the senior deputy prime minister, said the Nepal government has not permitted US to set up such office but is in constant dialogue with Bhutan for repatriation of the exiled Bhutanese. Bhutan News Service