Though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is the government agency which is responsible for conducting the foreign relations of Nepal, historically, it is the Office of Prime Minister (PMO) which has exercised the authority to formulate the country's foreign policies. As a landlocked country wedged between two larger and far stronger powers, Nepal has tried to maintain good relations with both of its neighbors, People's Republic of China and Republic of India. However, the relationship between Nepal and India was significantly hampered by the 2015 Nepal blockade when the Government of Nepal accused India of mimicking "Russia-Ukraine" tactics by using ethnically Indian residents of Nepal to cause unrest along Nepal's southern border. India denied the allegation and said the unrest were an internal affair. For the most part though, Nepal has traditionally maintained a non-aligned policy and enjoys friendly relations with its neighboring countries and almost all the major countries of the world.
Bhutan has diplomatic relations with 54 of 193 member states of the United Nations and the European Union. Bhutan's limited number of such relations, including the absence of formal relations with any of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, is part of a deliberate isolationist policy of limiting foreign influence in the state. This stance has been safeguarded by close relations with India, of which Bhutan has previously been considered a protected state.
The Kingdom of Nepal was a Hindu kingdom in South Asia, formed in 1768 by the expansion of the Gorkha Kingdom, which lasted until 2008 when the kingdom became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. It was also known as the Gorkha Empire, or sometimes Asal Hindustan. Founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha monarch who claimed to be of Thakuri origin from chaubisi, it existed for 240 years until the abolition of the Nepalese monarchy in 2008. During this period, Nepal was formally under the rule of the Shah dynasty, which exercised varying degrees of power during the kingdom's existence.
The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence are the Chinese government's foreign relations principles first mentioned in the 1954 Sino-Indian Agreement. Also known as Panchsheel, these principles were subsequently adopted in a number of resolutions and statements, including the preamble to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.
The Treaty of Sugauli, the treaty that established the boundary line of Nepal, was signed on 4 March 1816 between the East India Company and Guru Gajraj Mishra following the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–16.
India–Nepal relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of India and the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Both countries initiated their relationship with the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship and accompanying secret letters that defined security relations between the two countries, and an agreement governing both bilateral trade and trade transiting Indian territory.
The bilateral relations between the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan and the Republic of India have been traditionally close and both countries share a "special relationship", making Bhutan a protected state, but not a protectorate, of India. India remains influential over Bhutan's foreign policy, defence and commerce. Bhutan is the largest beneficiary of India's foreign aid.
The India–Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace was a 25-year treaty that was signed on 19 March 1972 forging close bilateral relations between India and the newly established state of Bangladesh. The treaty was also known as the Indira–Mujib Treaty, after the signatories of the treaty the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The bilateral relation between Nepal and China is defined by the Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed on April 28, 1960, by the two countries. Though initially unenthusiastic, Nepal has been of late making efforts to increase trade and connectivity with China. Relations between Nepal and China got a boost when both countries solved all border disputes along the China–Nepal border by signing the Sino-Nepal boundary agreement on March 21, 1960, making Nepal the first neighboring country of China to agree to and ratify a border treaty with China. The government of both Nepal and China ratified the border agreement treaty on October 5, 1961. From 1975 onward, Nepal has maintained a policy of balancing the competing influence of China and Nepal's southern neighbor India, the only two neighbors of the Himalayan country after the accession of the Kingdom of Sikkim into India in 1975.
Nepal–Pakistan relations refer to the bilateral relations between Nepal and Pakistan, both Himalayan states located on the Indian subcontinent. After the Partition of British India in August 1947, Nepal moved to establish diplomatic relations with the Dominion of India, but did not do so with the Dominion of Pakistan. Official diplomatic ties did not exist between the two states until initial steps were taken on 29 March 1960; these relations were then fully established between 1962 and 1963. Both nations have since sought to expand their bilateral trade, strategic and military cooperation. In 1972, following Pakistan's defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War and the secession of East Pakistan as the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Nepal recognized the latter's independence. Pakistan severed ties with Nepal shortly afterwards, but these were later re-established.
The Treaty of Tianjin, signed on June 9, 1885, officially ended the Sino-French War. The "unequal treaty", or colonial treaty, restated in greater detail the main provisions of the Tianjin Accord, signed between France and China on May 11, 1884. As Article 2 required China to recognize the French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin established by the Treaty of Hue in June 1884, implicitly forcing China to abandon its claims to suzerainty over Vietnam, the treaty formalized France's diplomatic victory in the Sino-French War.
The Kalapani territory is an area under Indian administration as part of Pithoragarh district in the Kumaon Division of the Uttarakhand state, but it is also claimed by Nepal since 1997. According to Nepal's claim, it lies in Darchula district, Sudurpashchim Province. The territory represents part of the basin of the Kalapani river, one of the headwaters of the Kali River in the Himalayas at an altitude of 3600–5200 meters. The valley of Kalapani, with the Lipulekh Pass at the top, forms the Indian route to Kailash–Manasarovar, an ancient pilgrimage site. It is also the traditional trading route to Tibet for the Bhotiyas of Kumaon and the Tinkar valley of Nepal.
The Sino-Nepalese War, also known as the Sino-Gorkha War and in Chinese as the campaign of Gorkha, was a war fought between the Qing dynasty of China and the Kingdom of Nepal in the late 18th century following an invasion of Tibet by the Nepalese Gorkhas. It was initially fought between Gorkhas and Tibetan armies in 1788 over a trade dispute related to a long-standing problem of low-quality coins manufactured by Nepal for Tibet. The Nepalese Army under Bahadur Shah plundered Tibet which was a Qing protectorate and Tibetans signed the Treaty of Kerung paying annual tribute to Nepal. However, Tibetans requested Chinese intervention and the Chinese imperial military forces under Fuk'anggan were sent to Tibet and repulsed the Gurkhas from the Tibetan plateau in 1792. Sino-Tibetan forces marched into Nepal up to Nuwakot but faced a strong Nepalese counterattack. Thus, both countries signed the Treaty of Betrawati as a stalemate. The war ended with Nepal accepting terms dictated by China. Nepal became a tribute state under Qing. Nepal paid tribute to China in 1792, 1794, 1795, 1823, 1842 and 1865. Both Nepal and Tibet also agreed to accept the suzerainty of the Qing emperor.
The Nepal–Britain Treaty was first discussed in 1921 and the final treaty was signed on 21 December 1923 in Singha Durbar. The treaty was the first formal acknowledgement by the British that Nepal, as an independent nation, had the right to conduct its foreign policy in any way it saw fit and was considered to be “a great achievement of 25 years of Chandra Shumsher’s diplomacy.” The treaty was recorded in 1925 in the League of Nations.
The visa policy of Nepal allows citizens of most countries to obtain either an Online tourist visa or an visa on arrival while citizens of India are allowed freedom of movement. However, citizens of certain other countries must obtain a visa from one of the Nepalese diplomatic missions.
Greater Nepal is an irredentist concept in Nepal, which claims current Indian and Bangladeshi territories beyond Nepal's present-day boundaries. These claims typically include the areas controlled by Nepal between 1791 and 1816, a period that ended with the Anglo-Nepalese War and the signing of Sugauli Treaty. In addition, extensive territories in the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and some parts of Bangladesh are also included in the claims of the activist organisation Greater Nepal Nationalist Front, which demands the "return" of these territories to Nepal. A map similar to theirs was displayed by the mayor of Kathmandu in his office in June 2023, in reaction to an alleged "Akhand Bharat" map in the Indian Parliament building.
The China–Nepal border is the international boundary between the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China and Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. It is 1,389 kilometres (863 mi) in length and runs in a northwest–southeast direction along the Himalayan mountain range, including Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. The boundaries of this particular border have changed dramatically over time, especially when considering relatively recent events such as the Annexation of Tibet in 1949. However, some of the most significant developments of modern times would be the signing of the "Agreement on Maintaining Friendly Relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Kingdom of Nepal" in 1956 and the "Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship" in 1960, both of which formally recognised Tibet as a part of China and confirmed the limits of the countries of China and Nepal as they are known today.
The Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship was an official settlement between the governments of Nepal and China signed on 28 April 1960, which ratified an earlier agreement on the borders separating the neighboring nations from each other. Gerry Van Tronder has argued that this document fitted into an attempt to maintain the image that Beijing was a "powerful but essentially benevolent leader in Asia", following the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. Contemporary Nepali, Chinese and Indian commentators have stressed the importance of the treaty in determining Nepal's relationship with China in the past and present.
Mahakali Treaty or महाकाली सन्धि is an agreement between the Government of Nepal and the Government of India regarding the development of watershed of Mahakali River. The treaty was signed in 1996. The treaty has 12 articles agreements for an integrated development of barrage, dams and hydropower for mutual cooperation of the two countries by managing the water resources. The treaty recognizes the Mahakali River as a boundary river between the two countries.
The Nepal–Britain Treaty was signed on 1 November 1860 in Kathmandu by Jung Bahadur Rana on behalf of King Surendra Bikram Shah and by George Ramsay on the part of Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning, Governor-General of India. The treaty was ratified on 15 November 1860 in Calcuta.
