Madan Kumar Bhattarai is a seasoned diplomat of Nepal with a service career spanning almost four decades out of which he spent 13 years in various diplomatic postings in India, and over two years as Foreign Secretary. His doctoral thesis is on Nepal-India relations and postdoctoral thesis on the Indian Foreign Service. He is a product of Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
He also served under the Ministries of Commerce, Finance, Industry and Tourism and handled Nepal-China relations, including conclusion of the first Road Transport Agreement. He was Ambassador to Germany from 2004 to 2009 with concurrent accreditations to many European countries. Bhattarai was Ambassador to Japan (2011-2015).
He writes in English and Nepali. Two of his books in English are the Diplomatic History of Nepal (1990) and Seventy Years of Indo-Nepal Relations covering the period from 1947 to 2018. He is currently engaged in a research on Nepal’s foreign affairs from a historical perspective. In May this year, he was honoured by the Emperor of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.
A former journalist with a broadsheet English daily he reported extensively on the visits of several dignitaries to Nepal, including Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai, External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, et al. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at Tribhuvan University since 2015 and a Guest Professor of the Kathmandu School of Law since 2024.
In May this year, he was honoured by the Emperor of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. A former journalist with a broadsheet English daily he reported extensively on the visits of several heads of nations in Nepal, including Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deng Xiaoping, et al. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at Tribhuvan University since 2015 and a Guest Professor of the Kathmandu School of Law since 2024.
