H. E. Mr. Lok Bahadur Thapa, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations

His Excellency Mr. Lok Bahadur Thapa assumed the office of the Permanent Representative (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary) of Nepal to the United Nations since 01 September 2023. He presented his Letters of Credence to His Excellency Mr. Antinio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations on 01 September 2023.  

Mr. Thapa has served in a number of positions during a long spell of his diplomatic career spanning more than three decades after he joined the Foreign Service of Nepal in 1990.

He was the Ambassador of Nepal to the BENELUX (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg) as well as the Head of Mission to the European Union from 2016 to 2020. During his stint in Brussels, he also served as the Permanent Representative of Nepal to the Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW), World Customs Organization (WCO), Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), and Center for the Promotion of Products from Developing Countries (CBI). 

Before taking charge of the current position, Ambassador Thapa was the Head of the North-East Asia Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Prior, he served as the Director General of the Department of Passport from September 2014 to October 2016.  In 2014, he briefly headed the South Asia Division of the Ministry.  

Mr. Thapa was Deputy Chief of Mission in Embassy of Nepal, Canberra, from September 2009 to January 2014.

He served as Protocol and Liaison Officer at the office of the first President of Nepal from July 2008 to September 2009.

He was Desk Officer in the Multilateral Economic Affairs Division of the Ministry from April to July 2008.  

He served as First Secretary in the Embassy of Nepal in Riyadh from 2004 to 2008, also serving as Charge d’Affaires a.i. in 2004-2005.

From 2002 to 2004, Mr Thapa worked as Desk Officer in the North-East Asia and South-East Asia Division of the Ministry.

Prior to that, he was posted to the Embassy of Beijing in 1998 as Second Secretary, where he served for four years.

He served in different divisions and sections at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal after joining the Foreign Service of Nepal in 1990.

In his long diplomatic career, Mr. Thapa became a part of high-level Nepali delegations to different countries as well as attended dozens of bilateral, regional and multilateral meetings, conferences and negotiations.

Mr. Thapa holds a master’s degree in diplomacy from Lancaster University, UK; and master’s in public administration from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

He has also completed half a dozen professional training programs at home and abroad. They include programs from the University of Tasmania, Australia; the Institute of Foreign Affairs, Nepal; the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, South Korea; Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) and the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies, USA.

He is married to Mrs. Nanu Thapa and has two sons.

He was born in 1970 in Tanahun district of Nepal.