Kathmandu: US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu will visit Nepal on November 17. During the visit, Donald will be meeting Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and government leaders, according to the US Department of State.
The visit comes at a time when the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact remains stuck as political parties are sharply divided over whether the compact is to be ratified in its current format or it should be given a go-ahead only after amendment.
There has been no progress on the $500 million project of the power grid and strategic road maintenance nearly two months after the exchange of letters between the MCC and the government of Nepal and Nepal visit of MCC Vice President Fatema Z Sumar.
On September 14, 2017, Nepal signed a 500 million US dollars Compact with the MCC, the US foreign assistance agency, at the US State Department in Washington DC. On behalf of Nepal, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Finance Minister at the time, signed the Compact with MCC’s Acting CEO Jonathan Nash. Sher Bahadur Deuba was the Prime Minister of Nepal at the time.
Donald Lu became Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on September 15, 2021.
Prior to this assignment, Assistant Secretary Lu served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic from 2018 to 2021 and the US Ambassador to the Republic of Albania from 2015-2018. Before his posting in Albania, Assistant Secretary Lu worked on the Ebola crisis in West Africa as the Deputy Coordinator for Ebola Response in the Department of State.
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