In early May 2015, barely a week after the devastating earthquake, I accompanied Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat to Baku, Azerbaijan, for the Asian Development Bank’s Annual Meeting. As Joint Secretary heading the Ministry of Finance’s International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division (IECCD), I helped organize that journey while Nepal was confronting an immense relief, recovery and reconstruction challenge.
With finance ministers and heads and representatives of development institutions already assembled, Baku offered an immediate opportunity to place Nepal’s earthquake devastation and the urgency of recovery before those who could help finance it. At short notice, ADB convened a Nepal Partnership Forum, jointly chaired by President Takehiko Nakao and Minister Dr. Mahat. Japan’s proposal for a reconstruction conference received support. An international platform began to take shape while the disaster was still commanding global attention.
From Baku to Kathmandu
I recall this experience because Nepal faces another moment when speed in financial diplomacy matters. To be candid, a disaster does not wait for the budget cycle. Neither should the effort to finance recovery. As a lesson learned, it would be better for the government to announce an international conference on Bhotekoshi disaster recovery and reconstruction and convene it as soon as possible, perhaps within two months of the disaster.
The Baku engagement was followed by the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction (ICNR) in Kathmandu on June 25, 2015, exactly two months after the earthquake. As the liaison agency, IECCD helped coordinate the conference and the Ministry’s engagement with development partners on recovery and reconstruction. That work was part of a collective effort involving political leadership, government agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Planning Commission, our international development partners, and colleagues across the administration.
The National Planning Commission led the post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA), supported by international partners. Its publication before the conference gave participants a shared basis for discussing reconstruction and navigating the needs. Nepal could explain the scale of its needs and the framework through which assistance would be utilized. The idea of establishing a separate reconstruction authority was also floated. The Build Back Better (BBB) concept was adopted as the central guiding motto and framework for post-earthquake reconstruction.
Attended by around 300 members representing 58 official delegations from bilateral and multilateral partners, the conference secured preliminary pledges exceeding $4.1 billion – $1.97 billion in grants and $2.14 billion in soft loans. Some assistance involved existing commitments, an important reminder that a pledge total must be examined for its composition and additionality as well.
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In 2016, The Banker named Dr. Mahat its Global and Asia-Pacific Finance Minister of the Year. That recognition belongs in the history of Nepal’s response. The enduring lesson for today, however, concerns the way leadership, preparation, and timely international engagement can work together.
Compared to the 2015 earthquake, Bhotekoshi presents a different challenge. The destruction of settlements, livelihoods, hydropower stations, and transport links has interrupted both lives and economic activity. Rebuilding a road or power plant in an exposed river corridor requires a fresh assessment of whether the location itself is safe and how the new infrastructure could be made climate-resilient.
The scale of the loss and the recovery estimates
The government’s preliminary estimate that the Bhotekoshi disaster could reduce GDP by around 7 percent points to a huge loss. The World Bank’s October 2026 Nepal Development Update reports preliminary government estimates of approximately $4.8 billion in recovery and reconstruction needs. However, the final figure will be available only after the final PDNA report is released.
Given its thin fiscal base, Nepal cannot place the entire reconstruction burden on its budget. Delayed financing can prolong the interruption of electricity, trade, tourism, and livelihoods. It also imposes costs that do not appear in a damaged-asset inventory: missed schooling, lost income, foregone trade and tourism, and extended displacement.
Meanwhile, the government’s international outreach deserves recognition. Prime Minister Balendra Shah took Nepal’s appeal to the UN General Assembly in New York, calling for international support and grant-based recovery. His emphasis on Himalayan cooperation also points towards shared monitoring and early warning across borders. Reconstruction and prevention must advance together.
Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has pursued that appeal through direct engagement with potential partners. In India, he met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. In Doha, he sought recovery support at the AIIB Annual Meeting. In Washington, he met World Bank President Ajay Banga, alongside outreach to the US administration. These efforts, supported by officials, diplomats, and technical agencies, are laying the groundwork for a wider recovery partnership.
Act before attention moves elsewhere
The next move is to utilize the momentum gained quickly. There is no certainty that a donors’ conference will close Nepal’s financing gap. But a conference creates a point at which partners must consider a common programme and announce what they can support.
The shutdown of USAID, rising geopolitical tensions, wars, disasters, and competing demands on already declining aid budgets make mobilization harder and more competitive. These factors underscore the need for early, organized engagement. Nepal should not assume that the international attention accompanying a catastrophe will remain available indefinitely. The world will not wait for us.
Pakistan’s experience after its 2022 floods is instructive. Its government and the United Nations convened a conference in Geneva in January 2023, securing commitments exceeding $9 billion around a national recovery framework. Yet almost 90 percent of the pledges were project loans. The lesson is to organize international backing while negotiating carefully over the terms of that support.
Nepal should seek predominantly grant financing for vulnerable households, safe relocation, livelihoods, and essential public services. Its negligible contribution to global emissions and disproportionate exposure to climate hazards provide a compelling equity argument. The Bhotekoshi recovery should not transfer the burden of climate-related destruction to affected people through new debt to Nepal, a least developed country. A claim for climate justice can support a strong grant appeal; however, it does not automatically make every financing mechanism a compensation entitlement.
The government should invite the UN, World Bank, and ADB to help prepare and mobilize support for a Nepal-led conference. Kathmandu would allow partners to engage with affected communities and local governments. Before the event, Nepal should negotiate with its neighbors, other bilateral partners, multilateral development banks, and climate funds around clearly defined interventions.
From Baku to Bangkok
The World Bank–IMF Annual Meetings in Bangkok, from October 12 to 18, offer Minister Wagle an opportunity comparable to the one Dr. Mahat used in Baku. The minister should seek a Nepal recovery partnership meeting on the sidelines with the World Bank, ADB, the UN, and interested multilateral and bilateral partners. Its purpose should be concrete: discuss a tentative date for the conference, agree on who will help prepare it, identify prospective grant contributors, and establish a timetable for financing decisions. AIIB and climate-finance institutions, including the GCF and Adaptation Fund, should be engaged around suitable resilient infrastructure and adaptation investments.
Conclusion
My experience in Baku taught me that an international meeting can become the beginning of a national reconstruction effort when political leadership provides follow-up, a clear purpose, and a deadline. The Prime Minister’s appeal in New York and the Finance Minister’s visits have helped draw global attention. An early conference would turn that attention into a shared commitment and support. The people affected by Bhotekoshi cannot put their recovery on hold until the world finds time for Nepal. We should set the date and begin securing the agreements that will help them rebuild.
The author is a former Finance Secretary of Nepal and headed the Ministry of Finance’s International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division during the 2015 earthquake response.