KATHMANDU: US Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry today suggested Nepal to be pro-Nepal, not pro-America or against any other country.

“We have never asked Nepal to be pro-America. We, of course, welcome the decades-long partnership between the two countries,” Ambassador Berry said at an interaction organized by the Institute of Strategic and Socio-Economic Research (ISSR) at the Pavilion Hall in Kathmandu on Friday.

In a loud and clear message to the Nepali people, Ambassador Berry said, “The US has never asked Nepal to be against any other country,” adding further, “We ask Nepal to guard its sovereignty fiercely including by strengthening the freedom, the openness, and the security, and allow this region to prosper.”

He also clarified that Nepal has also never been asked to join the Indo-Pacific Strategy. “That because there is nothing to join it,” Ambassador Berry told the interaction attended by lawmakers, former ambassadors, diplomats, retired army officials, and senior journalists.

“Look around this region, not a single country has joined the Indo-Pacific Strategy because nobody has been asked to join,” Ambassador Berry clarified adding that the Indo-Pacific Strategy is the name which we gave to a US policy. “It describes what we strive to do. We Americans strive to do to protect in advance a free open and secure Indo-Pacific region,” he added.

He dismissed claims of the Indo-Pacific Strategy as a military alliance or some kind of member-based organization, or somehow meant to trap a country. “This is not a defense policy,” he said.

“What we recognize is that when America is stronger, Nepal is stronger, and when Nepal is stronger, America is stronger. America’s sovereignty is more strong and resilient when Nepal’s sovereignty is stronger and resilient, he maintained.

“I am sure every country, including Nepal, as a sovereign and small country, will benefit from the Indo-Pacific Strategy,” he added.

“We have repeatedly explained that the Indo-Pacific Strategy is the name we give to U.S. policy. It describes what we Americans strive to do to protect and advance a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific region,” he adding, ” Some people claim it is a secret military alliance or some kind of member-based organization meant to trap Nepal, though the fact is, as Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali has told the Parliament and repeated to the press that Nepal has never been asked to “join” anything.

Ambassador Berry’s full speech can be read here: Nepal needs to be pro-Nepal