Khatiwada served as the Minister for Communications and Information Technology for seven months and as Minister for Finance for two years and six months.
Talking to the chiefs of the line agencies, departmental heads and staffers at the Ministry of Communications, Information and Technology following the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Friday, Minister Khatiwada expressed his belief that his works as the Communications Minister would be evaluated in the future, Minister Khatiwada extended his gratitude to all the heads of the line agencies as well as staffers for their cooperation to him during his tenure.
Stating that he could come across a lot of good people at individual level while during his stint as the Minister, he said, “I express my gratitude towards the Prime Minister for trusting me and entrusting me with the responsibility of two ministries. The responsibility of the Communications Ministry was unexpected one. As a learner, I possess general knowledge about finances and economy sector.”
On the occasion, he urged the heads of the line agencies to deliver in a transparent manner and in compliance with the existing laws and rules. Pressing for the need to optimize the use of ICT in the sector of education, science and agriculture, the Minister underlined the need to construction of infrastructures for IT so that the goal of Digital Nepal Framework would be realized. According to him, the Ministry of Communications, Information and Technology was the ministry of high public concerns. He said that there were huge unseen and untapped resources in the Ministry which need to be capitalized prudently.
“The COVID-19 has put us in tight corner. But it has also brought new opportunities such as online education and telemedicine which were just a fashion. With the spread of COVID-19, online education and telemedicine became a new normal," he reminded, suggesting the subordinate agencies to utilize ICT rather than continuing traditional method of communication as writing letter to the line ministry in Singha Durbar.
