Update: Senate confirmed the appointment of Nancy J. Powell as the ambassador to Nepal on June 28.
(that is if confirmed by the Senate as ambassador to Kathmandu. Nancy Powell will be replacing James F. Moriarty, the current American face in Nepal (hero for some and villain for others)
Transcripts by Federal News Service June 20, 2007 Wednesday
Nancy Powell: My experience in South Asia is that even if they had locked up all of those in their possession, it isn’t that difficult to get new ones in the region.
HEARING OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: PENDING NOMINATIONS
CHAIRED BY: SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (D-MA);
WITNESSES: NANCY POWELL TO BE AMBASSADOR TO NEPAL (And other four individuals to be ambassadors for Pakistan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, and Yamenn. UWB has removed the transcripts of Q & A with other individuals because they are not our Nancy Powell.)
LOCATION: 419 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING
SEN. KERRY: Thank you. We’ll come to order. I apologize to everybody for being a little late. We’re in the middle of negotiations on the energy bill, on that wonderful subject of CAFE standards, which we’ve been fighting about for as long as I’ve been here. So we’re trying to see if we can get something cooking, and I apologize for that.
Thank you all for being here. This hearing is to examine the nominations for ambassador of a number of career foreign service officers. And I might add, having sat on these hearings for a long time now, it is really both refreshing and enormously reassuring to see so much experience at a table at one time, and so many people whose long careers have really, I think, prepared them all so effectively for these challenging missions. And there isn’t one mission here that isn’t challenging, one way or the other.
And we thank your families also. We — I certainly personally understand the commitment and sacrifices involved in your service, and we’re very, very grateful to all of you for that, particularly those of you going to a place — well, almost everywhere nowadays has become more complicated and stressful that it ever used to be, and it takes a real toll in a lot of different ways. So we welcome all of you here, and we welcome those of you who have family members who’ve come to share this hearing with you.
After nearly a decade of civil war, many years of autocratic rule, a place that most people have always thought of as rather peaceful, Nepal finds itself at a critical point in its history. The United States and the international community need to help Nepal to restore and solidify their democracy, and key to this is moving forward with the process of integrating the Maoist opposition into the political process. Nepal faces a tough road ahead, and we obviously need to give them the support they need to succeed. And our ambassador’s relationship and leverage in that process will be critical. Continue reading
