Commentary: Nepal's Balancing Act in the Middle East

Abstract

Nepal was the first South Asian country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1960, and other Middle Eastern countries followed suit in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although Nepal and Israel have excellent bilateral relations, Nepal has yet to support Israel in multilateral forums, owing to a dilemma in maintaining balanced relations with other Middle Eastern countries. Because Middle Eastern countries are commonly identified by their reliance on labor imports, they have also become a labor destination for Nepal. With a high concentration of Nepali workers (77%), countries such as the UAE, Qatar, Cyprus, Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have dominated Nepal's labor migration. Remittances from these countries are huge every year, and they have become the backbone of Nepal's economy. As a remittance-driven economy, labor export has always been a major tool of Nepal's economic diplomacy, which is frequently at the forefront of Nepal's foreign policy toward Middle Eastern nations. As a result, the paper argues for more determined action in the Middle East region, through which Nepal can develop its economic, investment, trade, and tourism interests by negotiating more advantageous relationships with Middle Eastern countries.