Mr. Amrit Bahadur Rai assumed the responsibility of Acting Foreign Secretary of Nepal on 24 November 2024.
Mr. Rai has an extensive career in diplomacy, global governance as well as domestic governance. Mr. Rai joined the civil service in 1996, and later joined the Nepali Foreign Service in 2005 as an Under Secretary.
Prior to his latest appointment, Mr. Rai served as the Joint Secretary and Division Chief of the UN, International Organizations, and International Law Division at Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a position he had held since July 2023. Concurrently, he also served as the Spokesperson for the Ministry.
From March 2019 to June 2023, he was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, in New York. During his Ambassadorial tenure, he held several significant leadership roles including Vice-President of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly (2022–2023), Chair of the Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) during the 75th Session (2020–2021), and Chair of the Board of Governors for the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (2022–2023). He also served as Chair of the Global Coordination Bureau for Least Developed Countries from April to June 2023. His work in those roles was crucial in enhancing Nepal’s multilateral profile, advancing Nepal’s interests in multilateral fora, securing overwhelming support for Nepal’s candidature at various UN bodies, and advocating for the interests of the neediest countries including least developed countries and landlocked developing countries.
Mr. Rai had also served as Nepal’s Ambassador to South Africa from December 2014 to December 2018, with concurrent accreditation to 18 other countries where he played important role to enhance Nepal’s image and national interest in South Africa and beyond. Prior to that, he also held various senior positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Joint Secretary of the South Asia Division (2013–2014), Europe and Americas Division (2013), and Planning and Monitoring Division (2018–2019).
From 2008 to 2012, he represented Nepal as Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. As an Under-Secretary, he also worked in the UN and International Organization Division, the Multilateral Economic Diplomacy Division, and the Foreign Minister’s Secretariat at Ministry of Foreign Affairs from November 2005 to November 2008.
During his early years of public service, Mr. Rai also served as Under-Secretary in the Planning Division of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation between 2003 and 2005, and in the Ministry of General Administration from 2002 to 2003. He began his career in civil service in 1996 as a Section Officer in the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare.
Mr. Rai holds three Master’s degrees. These include a Master’s in Public Management from the University of Potsdam, Germany (2002–2003), a Master’s in Public Administration from Tribhuvan University, Nepal (1997–1998, where he graduated first in his class), and a Master’s in Business Administration from Tribhuvan University (1992–1993).
Mr. Rai is passionate about institution-building, organization reforms and raising Nepal’s diplomatic readiness and profile. He enjoys reading books –particularly those on politics, international relations and diplomacy.
Mr. Rai was born in 1970 in Chichila Rural Municipality, Sankhuwa Sabha district of Nepal. Mr. Rai and his wife Mrs. Manju Rai have three children.