Nearly three decades after establishing diplomatic ties with the UAE, Nepal has something more concrete to offer for its 60,000-strong expat community here.
The Royal Nepalese embassy, housed in a commercial building in the capital, will open its doors for the community and service-seekers today.
Madhuban P. Paudel, the designate-Charge d'Affaires, who has been here for more than a month in preparation for the opening of the embassy, yesterday told Gulf News the embassy will be fully operational from this morning.
"The embassy is a good news for 60,000-plus Nepalese in the country. There has been growing demand for an embassy as the number of community members has been rapidly growing," Paudel said.
He said there has been a lot of pressure for an embassy from the community, who are mainly employed in the hospitality industry and private security groups.
"The embassy will be responsible for all diplomatic, consular and other activities relating to the Kingdom of Nepal and the welfare of the Nepalese nationals in UAE," the diplomat said.
Earlier, Nepalese here did not have direct access to consular service and were visited instead by representatives from Riyadh-based Nepalese embassy. A team used to visit the UAE almost every month to offer the consular services in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The Riyadh-based embassy acted as a non-resident mission for the UAE. Paudel told Gulf News a team of officials from Kathmandu is likely to come for talks with the local officials.
A special ceremony will also be hosted for the opening of the embassy when the delegation, headed by a senior government official, arrives.
Paudel added: "The government of Nepal expresses its profound appreciation and gratitude to the government of the UAE for its kind gesture, cooperation and support in the opening of the embassy in Abu Dhabi.
"The Nepalese government believes that the opening of a new embassy will help further deepen and widen the relations existing between the two friendly countries."
The opening was received with overwhelming support from the community members here.Chandra Prasad Sapkota, President of the Nepalese Welfare Society in UAE, and Representative of the Nepal Tourism Board, said the new embassy was a great news for the community and hoped the new official representatives will spare no effort in serving their countrymen, who for years have been waiting for this opportunity.
Sapkota, who, along with other community members, has been lobbying for the opening of a diplomatic mission, said: "Let us see how the embassy will do. We will offer all our support and assistance to the staff at the embassy in their efforts to serve the Nepalese community.
"We have been lobbying for the opening of the embassy since 1995. We hope it will help solve the problems the community is facing here due to the absence of a diplomatic mission."
Another community member, Loknath Subedi, said the opening of the embassy is good news for all Nepalese living here. "We needed the embassy for renewal of our passports and attestation of necessary documents."
He hoped the embassy will be able to solve the problems of some of the Nepalese workers who have financial dues pending with their employers. "We finally have someone to represent us here," Subedi said.
Hub of activity for Nepalese community* The new embassy is located in Mohammed bin Sultan Al Dhaheri Building near Medinat Zayed on Airport Road.
* The embassy can be contacted through 02-6344385 and 02-6344767, and fax number 02-6344469. The embassy will have six staff members, including the Charge d'Affaires and a Second Secretary for the consular services. Three of the staff members have been locally recruited.
* The services offered at the embassy include issuance of passports and visas, attestation and verification of various documents dealing with manpower recruitment through agencies, or individually from Nepal, promotion of trade and tourism related activities.
