Kathmandu. The proposed Nepali Ambassador to Japan, Jigyasa Kumar Thapa, has stated that his main responsibility will be to facilitate the long-overdue executive-level high-level visits and to provide efficient consular services to the rapidly growing Nepali community there.
Presenting his qualifications, experience, and work plan before the parliamentary hearing committee on Wednesday, he expressed his commitment to further activating and making the seven-decade-long historical relationship between the two countries more public-oriented.
Presenting his work plan at the parliamentary hearing committee meeting, proposed Ambassador Thapa stated that he would take initiative to remove the vacuum in high political dialogue between Nepal and Japan. Pointing out that a bilateral visit at the prime ministerial level has not occurred since the visit of then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in 1998 and then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in 2000, he clarified that he would coordinate with both governments to break this interval and create an environment for high-level visits.
Presenting statistics on the unprecedented increase in the Nepali community in Japan, Thapa informed that the number of Nepalis has increased by approximately 43 times in the last two decades. While it was 6,953 in 2005, it has now reached 309,992, which is about one percent of Nepal’s total population. Among the Nepalis spread across all 47 prefectures of Japan, more than 116,000 are students, about 73,000 are family dependents, and more than 48,000 are on technical and vocational visas.
Acknowledging that the embassy’s current manpower and infrastructure are finding it difficult to meet the demand with the rapid expansion of the community, he has put forward a plan to fully digitize consular services. He stated that online applications for passports and other certifications, digital payments, and mobile consular services would be operated based on community demand for Nepalis living far from Tokyo. He also said that a system would be established to simplify the attestation process for work permits within a specified timeframe.
Thapa, who has long-term experience in higher education, teaching, and diplomatic coordination in Japan, assured that he would utilize his linguistic skills and local-level connections for national interest and economic diplomacy. Recalling the assistance provided by Japan in disaster management and development cooperation, he said that he would further broaden people-to-people relations.
AloJapan.com