Minister for Information and Communications Dr Bikram Timilsina held discussions with Emir Gelen, a senior director at TikTok, at the ministry in Kathmandu on November 6, with the talks centring on digital transformation, economic development, tourism promotion and the safe use of the internet. The meeting brought Nepal's communications ministry face to face with one of the world's most widely used short-video platforms, underscoring the growing role social media companies are expected to play in the country's efforts to modernise its economy and present itself to a global audience.

Broad agenda spanning economy, tourism and online safety

According to the ministry, the discussion ranged across four main themes: digital transformation, economic development, tourism promotion and safe internet use. Far from a narrow conversation about a single platform, the agenda reflected the breadth of issues that governments and global technology companies now routinely navigate together, from the contribution of digital tools to national development to the protection of users as internet access spreads.

The points discussed included:

  • Digital transformation: The subject at the heart of the meeting. Minister Timilsina used the occasion to state that the government of Nepal is committed to accelerating the country's digital transformation, positioning direct engagement with international technology firms as part of that push.
  • Economic development: The two sides discussed the contribution digital platforms can make to economic growth, an acknowledgment that social media services have become channels through which businesses, creators and entrepreneurs reach customers and audiences.
  • Tourism promotion: With tourism a mainstay of Nepal's economy, the conversation explored how a platform such as TikTok can help place the country in front of potential visitors around the world.
  • Safe internet use: The two sides also addressed safe internet use, an increasingly prominent concern as more people, particularly young users, spend growing parts of their lives online.

TikTok framed as a showcase for Nepal's tourism

Minister Timilsina described TikTok as an effective medium for promoting tourism, a comment that captures how destination marketing has shifted in recent years. Short-video platforms allow countries to reach enormous audiences through brief, visually striking clips, often produced not by official agencies but by travellers themselves, whose footage of mountains, monuments, food and festivals can spread far more quickly and widely than traditional advertising campaigns.

For Nepal, whose tourism appeal rests heavily on its landscapes, heritage and living culture, content shared on such platforms offers a comparatively low-cost way of putting the country on the screens of prospective visitors. The minister's characterisation of the platform suggests the government views TikTok not simply as a social media service but as a promotional channel that can complement the work of the wider tourism sector, carrying images of the country into markets that conventional outreach struggles to reach.

Government reaffirms its digital transformation drive

At the centre of the discussion was the minister's statement that the government of Nepal is "committed to accelerating its digital transformation." The remark places the ministry's engagement with TikTok within a broader agenda of moving government services, economic activity and public communication increasingly into digital space, and of treating large technology platforms as partners in that process rather than outsiders.

The meeting itself is notable as a direct encounter between a senior government minister and a senior director of a global platform. Engagements of this kind give the government an opportunity to convey its priorities straight to the company, while offering the platform a channel through which to understand the policy environment in which it operates in Nepal.

The prominence given to safe internet use in the talks also indicates that the government's interest in platforms such as TikTok extends beyond their promotional and economic potential to questions of responsible use and online protection, themes that have gained weight as internet use has expanded across the country.

Details of any specific initiatives, follow-up meetings or agreements emerging from the discussion were not immediately available. Even so, the meeting marks a clear point of contact between Nepal's information and communications leadership and one of the most widely used social media platforms in the world, with tourism promotion and digital transformation firmly at the top of the agenda.