THE VISITING JAPANESE SENIOR VICE MINISTER for Foreign Affairs Yasuhisa Shiozaki informed about the Japanese government’s decision to provide grant assistance of Rs 600 million to help in radio broadcasting in Nepal . He further informed that Japan would provide necessary help to Nepal on rehabilitation and reconstruction based on a framework prepared by Nepal government. During the meeting with deputy prime minister and foreign minister KP Oli on Friday, he pledged Japanese support in the peace process, UN involvement and constituent assembly elections.
POACHERS HAVE KILLED THREE RHINOS in the forest of Chitwan National Park in a week, a source at the Park said, adding that the poachers also injured one male rhino. While two female rhinos were killed in Chitwan, a male rhino was killed in Nawalparasi, the source said. The poachers managed to take away the horn of one rhino.
THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) has announced that it would increase assistance to Nepal this year. The Director General of ADB for South Asia Kunio Senga made this decision after meeting with Prime Minister, finance minister, ministers, political leaders, officials and civil society partners. Senga had come to Kathmandu on a visit to assess the political situation and prospects of ADB assistance. Meanwhile, Senga said that Melamchi is an important project for Nepal ’s development and committed ADB’s continued assistance to it. He said the ADB wishes to see the project completed soon. He said that he urged Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat to call a meeting Nepal ’s development partners and provide a concrete framework for foreign assistance.
CHINA HAS PLEDGED GRANT ASSISTANCE OF Rs 900 million to help in the development process of Nepal . This amount is more by Rs 200 million compared to China ’s regular annual assistance. Chinese vice minister for foreign affairs Wu Dawei who is on a three-day visit to Nepal further pledged that China would provide ‘concessional loan’ of Rs 1.8 billion to Nepal. “The assistance would be used in ongoing Chinese projects and other activities,” said Finance Secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire after signing an agreement about the assistance. About the concessional loan, Ghimire said, the government would decide after studying the conditions and period for payment. Acting Foreign Secretary Bhagirath Basnet said that the Chinese team was focused more on economic assistance. “We have urged them to revoke the provision of mandatory requirement (to Nepalese) of transit visa for Hong Kong . We have told them that since we do not impose any visa fee for visiting Chinese nationals, they should also reciprocate,” he said. During the talks between Chinese and Nepali delegation, issues related to support in technical and medical field, increasing scholarships in medicine and engineering field and so on were also discussed. Meanwhile, during the meeting with the Chinese vice minister, deputy prime minister and foreign minister KP Oli is said to have told him that Nepal government considers all Tibetan refugees who arrived here after 1990 as illegal. In a response to separate media query on a deal about the import of an airplane, Oli said the government is importing an airplane from China and will use it for civil aviation purposes.
AT A TIME WHEN THE STATE-OWNED Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) is suffering from severe financial crisis, its supplier Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent a letter asking it to specify the date for payment of dues along with interest. “IOC has sent a letter asking to specify the date for payment of dues along with 10.25 percent interest,” said executive director of NOC Biswanath Goyal. Due to spiraling rise of petro prices in the international market, NOC’s accumulated dues to IOC have reached a whopping Rs 9 billion. Just as the government was preparing to hike the price of oil, the IOC sent the letter. A team of IOC officials are scheduled to visit Kathmandu shortly to discuss the issue of payment of dues.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED INCREASES to the financial resources available to Nepal under the DFID bilateral development program and British Government’s Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP). Planned bilateral expenditure by DFID in the UK financial year will increase by 10 percent to Rs 4.29 billion, according to a press release issued by DFID in Kathmandu . The increase in resources comes in response to changed political context in Kathmandu . Bob Smith, the acting head of DFID in Nepal, said, “The additional funds will be used to support priorities agreed with the government and will be focused on programs aimed at supporting peace, democratic change and basic services for the poorest and excluded.” The British government’s GCPP funding for Nepal will more than double this financial year from British Pound 1.5 million to 3.4 million, according to the release. The GCPP is jointly funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defense and DFID.
THE GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING TO SET UP the Foreign Employment Development Board. According to Minister of State for Labor and Employment Promotion Ramesh Lekhak, the government is drafting law to set up the board. He said the board would include representatives from line ministries and specialists. He said that the government would soon present a new bill on Foreign Employment Act at the House of Representatives to facilitate foreign employment sector. He stated that separate departments would be formed to look after labor and foreign employment sectors.
FOR THE FOURTH TIME SINCE THE beginning of the Nepal-German Sports Cooperation in Athletics in 2003, a Nepalese coach has been granted by the German government, a five months’ study term, i.e. from 4 September 2006 until 31 January 2007 , at the University of Leipzig in Germany , according to a press release by the German Embassy in Kathmandu . Earlier, Bishow Bam Malla – handball; Binod Sainzu - judo; and Kausalya Khatri - volleyball were given similar scholarships. This year the Nepal Sports Council (NSC) basketball coach Dinesh Chandra Nakarmi has bagged the scholarship. It is the key element of the Nepal -German Cooperation in Sports to improve the Nepalese sports’ structure with the qualification of human resources (NSC coaches), the press release adds.
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