Questions on international organisations come up in almost every Lok Sewa general knowledge paper: when Nepal joined the United Nations, where SAARC has its secretariat, who the members of BIMSTEC are, or where a UN agency has its headquarters. This note brings together the United Nations, Nepal in the UN, SAARC, BIMSTEC, the WTO and other bodies that matter to Nepal, with the dates and places you need to remember.
1. The United Nations: founding and basic facts
The United Nations (UN) was created after the Second World War to keep international peace and security. Its Charter was signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945 and came into force on 24 October 1945, which is celebrated every year as UN Day. The UN started with 51 founding members and now has 193 member states; South Sudan (2011) is the newest member. The UN headquarters is in New York.
- Official languages: six (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).
- The chief administrative officer is the Secretary-General, appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
- The UN was preceded by the League of Nations (1920), which failed to prevent the Second World War.
2. Six principal organs of the UN
| Organ | Key facts |
|---|---|
| General Assembly | All 193 members, one vote each; main debating body |
| Security Council | 15 members: 5 permanent (USA, UK, France, Russia, China) with veto power and 10 non-permanent members elected for two years |
| Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) | 54 members; coordinates economic and social work |
| International Court of Justice (ICJ) | 15 judges; seated at The Hague, Netherlands |
| Secretariat | Day-to-day work, headed by the Secretary-General |
| Trusteeship Council | Suspended its work in 1994 after Palau, the last trust territory, became independent |
The ICJ is the only principal organ that is not in New York. In the Security Council, a decision on an important matter needs 9 votes out of 15, and none of the five permanent members must vote against it; a negative vote by a permanent member is called a veto. The ten non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms, five each year, and cannot be re-elected immediately.
3. Specialised agencies and their headquarters
| Agency | Headquarters |
|---|---|
| World Health Organization (WHO) | Geneva |
| International Labour Organization (ILO) | Geneva |
| International Telecommunication Union (ITU) | Geneva |
| World Meteorological Organization (WMO) | Geneva |
| World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) | Geneva |
| Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) | Rome |
| International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) | Rome |
| UNESCO | Paris |
| International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) | Montreal |
| International Maritime Organization (IMO) | London |
| Universal Postal Union (UPU) | Bern |
| UNIDO | Vienna |
| UN Tourism (formerly UNWTO) | Madrid |
| IMF and World Bank Group | Washington, D.C. |
The ILO (1919) is older than the UN itself. UNICEF and UNDP are UN funds and programmes based in New York, not specialised agencies. The IAEA in Vienna is a related organisation.
4. Nepal in the United Nations
- Nepal became a member of the UN on 14 December 1955.
- Nepal has taken part in UN peacekeeping since 1958, when it first sent military observers to the UN mission in Lebanon (UNOGIL). Today Nepal is one of the largest troop and police contributing countries.
- Nepal has been a non-permanent member of the Security Council twice: 1969-1970 and 1988-1989.
- Nepal served two terms on the Human Rights Council (2018-2023).
- In July 2025 Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Lok Bahadur Thapa, was elected President of ECOSOC for its 2026 session, the first time Nepal has held this post.
- Nepal is a member of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) and Landlocked Developing Countries groups at the UN.
For a small, landlocked country, the UN gives Nepal a platform to protect its sovereignty, raise the problems of least developed and landlocked countries, and support world peace. Nepali peacekeepers have served in many missions in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, and many have lost their lives in UN service.
5. SAARC
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded in Dhaka on 8 December 1985 (SAARC Charter Day). Its secretariat is in Kathmandu, established on 16 January 1987.
- Founding members (7): Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
- Afghanistan joined as the 8th member in 2007.
- Nepal has hosted three summits: the 3rd (1987), 11th (2002) and 18th (2014), all in Kathmandu.
- The 18th summit (Kathmandu, November 2014) is the latest; the 19th, planned in Pakistan in 2016, was cancelled.
- The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement was signed in 2004 and came into force on 1 January 2006.
6. BIMSTEC
BIMSTEC stands for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. It was formed in Bangkok on 6 June 1997 as BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand). Myanmar joined in December 1997, and Nepal and Bhutan became full members in 2004. It took its present name in 2004.
BIMSTEC works in sectors such as trade, energy, transport, tourism, agriculture, security and people-to-people contact. Because SAARC summits have been stalled since 2014, BIMSTEC has become more active as a regional platform for Nepal.
- Members (7): Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
- Permanent secretariat: Dhaka, opened in 2014.
- The 4th BIMSTEC Summit was held in Kathmandu in August 2018.
- BIMSTEC links South Asia with South-East Asia; Thailand and Myanmar are not SAARC members.
7. WTO and economic bodies
| Body | Key facts and Nepal link |
|---|---|
| World Trade Organization (WTO) | Set up on 1 January 1995, headquarters Geneva; Nepal became the 147th member on 23 April 2004 |
| Asian Development Bank (ADB) | Set up in 1966, headquarters Manila (Philippines); Nepal is a founding member |
| International Monetary Fund (IMF) | Headquarters Washington, D.C.; Nepal joined in 1961 |
| World Bank | Headquarters Washington, D.C.; Nepal joined in 1961 |
| Colombo Plan | Regional development body based in Colombo; Nepal joined in 1952 |
8. Other bodies relevant to Nepal
- Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): founded in Belgrade in 1961; Nepal is a founding member.
- Group of 77 (G-77): group of developing countries at the UN; Nepal is a member.
- ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development): set up in 1983, with its headquarters in Lalitpur, Nepal.
- UN offices in Nepal: UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and other agencies work in Nepal under the UN Resident Coordinator.
📌 Key points to remember
- UN Charter signed 26 June 1945; UN came into being on 24 October 1945 (UN Day); 193 members.
- Six principal organs; the ICJ at The Hague is the only one outside New York.
- Security Council: 15 members, 5 permanent with veto.
- Nepal joined the UN on 14 December 1955 and UN peacekeeping in 1958.
- Nepal was on the Security Council in 1969-1970 and 1988-1989.
- SAARC: founded 8 December 1985 in Dhaka; secretariat in Kathmandu since 1987; 8 members.
- BIMSTEC: founded 6 June 1997 in Bangkok; Nepal a member since 2004; secretariat in Dhaka.
- Nepal joined the WTO as the 147th member on 23 April 2004.
- ADB headquarters is Manila; Nepal is a founding member.
Test yourself: International Organisations and Nepal
Practise The United Nations: founding and basic facts, SAARC and Other bodies relevant to Nepal with 50 questions. Each attempt picks 25 at random.