Beginning in 1959, USAID supported the development of a telecommunications system, which provided Kathmandu with 1,000 telephone lines and the country's first automatic exchange.

USAID/Nepal

The relationship between the United States and Nepal started with an assistance agreement signed on January 23, 1951. Working together with the Government of Nepal, USAID has contributed to some of Nepal’s most dramatic and remarkable development successes, including laying Nepal’s first roads; installing its first telephone exchange; practically eliminating malaria from the Terai region; enabling agriculture to flourish in this once uninhabitable region of the country; increasing literacy rates; drastically reducing child mortality; and facilitating peace and democracy in the later decades. USAID’s mission in Nepal has built on these successes and continues to support Nepal’s efforts to become peaceful, prosperous, and democratic.