Kathmandu: One month into office, Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s government has kept a deliberately low-key foreign policy profile. There have been no bilateral meetings with world leaders. No high-profile diplomatic visits. Instead, the youngest prime minister in Nepal’s history has focused inward, on accountability, anti-corruption and economic recovery, while signalling to the international community that economic diplomacy will drive his external engagement.The March 5 election gave the Rastriya Swantra Party (RSP) 182 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives, the strongest single-party majority since the restoration of democracy in 1990. Shah, the former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, was sworn in on March 27. After decades of short-lived coalition governments, Nepal now has a prime minister with a decisive mandate and no coalition partners to manage.That mandate has not, so far, translated into foreign policy ambition. A review of the RSP’s election manifesto, along with Shah’s speeches and interviews, and those of RSP chairman Rabi Lamichhane and foreign minister Shisir Khanal, suggests that the government is unlikely to chart a new course. In an interview with The Hindu, Khanal said that the broad foreign policy would remain consistent, as Nepal’s constitution itself emphasises territorial integrity, sovereignty and adherence to the UN Charter.Shah organised a single briefing for Kathmandu-based ambassadors and agencies to lay out his government’s priorities. Unlike his predecessors, he has not met ambassadors or other international guests individually.India and China remain the top priorityThe Shah administration has stated, as every government before it has, that relations with India and China are its top priority. In his briefing to the international community, Shah reiterated Nepal’s balanced and pragmatic foreign policy, emphasising the importance of deepening relations with immediate neighbours, friendly countries and development partners based on trust, mutual respect and shared prosperity.The RSP manifesto frames this in aspirational terms. Nepal should transform itself from a buffer state into a vibrant bridge between its two neighbours, it says, using balanced and dynamic diplomacy to turn shifting geopolitics into development opportunities.On India, the manifesto is specific. It notes India’s progress over the past decade in digital public infrastructure, high-speed physical infrastructure, formalisation of the economy and enhancement of state capacity. Nepal can benefit from these advances by renewing its development partnership framework, the document says. On China, the emphasis is on mobilising concessional finance for infrastructure, implementing state-directed economic programmes and adopting best practices in inter-provincial competition.Unresolved disputes and the BRI questionThe new government’s approach to legacy disputes will be tested soon. The map dispute with India and the unresolved status of the 1950 treaty are politically sensitive issues that previous governments raised with New Delhi without resolution. A report recommending amendments to the 1950 treaty remains pending. The RSP manifesto promises high-level diplomatic initiatives to permanently resolve border disputes based on facts and evidence.On China, the key question is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). During K.P. Sharma Oli’s visit to China before the September protests, the two countries signed a BRI framework agreement and selected 10 projects under it. Nepal also remains undecided on China’s Global Security Initiative. Both New Delhi and Western capitals are watching how the Shah government handles these Chinese proposals.Growth through trade, investment and partnershipsThe government’s most energetic external messaging has been about economics. Shah has told the international community that trade expansion, increased investment and stronger economic partnerships are his priorities. Khanal has echoed this, describing economic growth as a central goal.The urgency is real. The Asian Development Bank has projected that Nepal’s growth will slow to 2.7% in fiscal year 2026, weighed down by political uncertainty after September’s unrest and the ongoing West Asia conflict. In a meeting with Nepali ambassadors abroad, Khanal said good governance and economic prosperity through strengthened economic diplomacy are the government’s key priorities, and urged missions to align their work accordingly.Migrant workers and the West Asia conflictThe Middle East conflict has given Nepal’s foreign policy an immediate, human dimension. Around 2.5 million Nepali workers are employed in the region. One has already been killed and others injured. Speaking at the Indian Ocean Conference, Khanal said conflicts in West Asia are not distant events for Nepal.If fighting persists, Nepal faces two challenges at once. Rescuing citizens in high-risk areas could become a major operation. And reintegrating returnees into an already strained job market will compound the unemployment problem created after Nepal temporarily halted labour permits when the conflict broke out. A commitment paper from the Prime Minister’s Office says Nepal will coordinate with the international community to ensure the rights, safety and social security of its migrant workers, and raise issues of human rights, labour rights and wage disparities in Gulf countries.Tapping diaspora investment and expertiseThe government also plans to make the Nepali diaspora a bigger part of its development strategy. According to the PMO paper, the goals include attracting diaspora investment, utilising their knowledge, and ensuring continuity in citizenship, inheritance rights and voting rights for non-resident Nepalis through legal and constitutional provisions. Investment is to be channelled into sports, health, education and knowledge creation.Same principles, harder balancing actNepal’s new government will not rewrite the country’s foreign policy. The core principles are constitutional, and Shah has shown no appetite for disruption. But a prime minister with this kind of mandate could, if he chose, adopt a more direct style of diplomacy and set his own priorities for engagement.The real test will be less about principles than about choices. How the government handles the BRI and GSI will be watched closely in New Delhi and Western capitals. Its ability to attract trade, investment and technology transfer will determine whether economic diplomacy amounts to more than rhetoric. And balancing India, China and the United States, each with competing interests in Kathmandu, will be the most consequential foreign policy challenge of Shah’s tenure.