Durga Prasad Bhattarai
{{short description|Nepali career diplomat|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = His Excellency
|name = Durga Prasad Bhattarai
|image=Durga Prasad Bhattarai.jpg
|caption=Durga Prasad Bhattarai, 2016
|office = Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations
|term_start = 2013
|term_end =
|predecessor = Gyan Chandra Acharya
|successor =
|president = Ram Baran Yadav
|president2 = Ram Baran Yadav
|office2 = Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
|term_start2 = 2011
|term_end2 = 2013
|predecessor2 = Madan Kumar Bhattarai
|successor2 = Shanker Das Bairagi
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|4|25|df=y}}{{fact|date=July 2017}}
|death_date =
|alma_mater = Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Institute of Social Studies, The Hague
}}
Durga Prasad Bhattarai (born 25 April 1961{{fact|date=July 2017}}) is a Nepali career diplomat who is currently the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations in New York City. He serves concurrently as the Ambassador of Nepal to Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
Career
Bhattarai was appointed to his current post in July 2013 and presented his credentials to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on August 19 of that year.{{cite press release |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2013/bio4515.doc.htm |title=New Permanent Representative of Nepal Presents Credentials |date=2013-08-19 |author= |publisher=United Nations |access-date=2017-07-23}} At the UN, he was elected Chairman of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization Committee) of the General Assembly during its 69th session, from 2014 to 2015.{{cite press release |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2014/bio4652.doc.htm |title=Durga Prasad Bhattarai of Nepal Chair of Fourth Committee |author= |date=2014-10-03 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=2017-07-23}} In June 2015 he was elected Chairman of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Committee) for its 70th session.{{cite press release |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/ga11654.doc.htm |title=General Assembly Elects Danish Parliament Speaker President of Seventieth Session, also Selects 21 Vice Presidents, Main Committees Bureaux |author= |date=2015-06-15 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=2017-07-23}}{{cite news |url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2015/06/16/news/nepal-elected-un-budgetary-panel-chair/277406.html |title=Nepal elected UN budgetary panel chair |periodical=The Kathmandu Post |date=2015-06-17 |author= |access-date=2017-07-23}} He is also the Vice President of the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board for 2015.
Before assuming his current post, Bhattarai served as the Permanent Secretary of Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was previously Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, from 2005 to 2009. From 2005 to 2006, he was President of the Colombo Plan Council.{{cite web |url=http://www.colombo-plan.org/index.php/about-cps/council-presidents/ |title=Council Presidents |publisher=The Colombo Plan Secretariat |date=2011 |access-date=2017-07-23}} He served as Minister/Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1998 to 2002.
As Joint Secretary of MOFA from 2002 to 2005, he headed the United Nations, International Organizations and International Law Division, and was Ministry Spokesman from 2004 to 2005. Prior to joining the foreign service, Bhattarai worked at the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the National Planning Commission, and the Cabinet Secretariat.
Personal life
Bhattarai was educated at Tribhuvan University in Nepal, where he received a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Business Administration. He holds an MA in Regional Development from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, the Netherlands. He is married to Muna, and they have two children.
References
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Category:Tribhuvan University alumni
Category:International Institute of Social Studies alumni
Category:Permanent representatives of Nepal to the United Nations
Category:Ambassadors of Nepal to the United States
Category:Ambassadors of Nepal to Venezuela
Category:Ambassadors of Nepal to Bolivia
Category:Ambassadors of Nepal to Ecuador