PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA is planning to leave for New Delhi on April 1 to attend the 14 th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The SAARC Summit is scheduled for April 3-4. PM Koirala will reach New Delhi two days earlier. Koirala’s foreign policy advisor Dr. Suresh Raj Chalise has said that he will leave for the summit two days earlier to undergo health check up in the Indian capital. During this year’s SAARC Summit, the United States , China , Japan , European Union and South Korea are taking part, for the first time, as observers.
NEPALI CONGRESS (DEMOCRATIC) became the first party to make its income-expenditure statement public and submit it to the Election Commission. The party has stated that in the fiscal year 2062/63, it earned Rs 8 million and spent Rs 7.6 million. The audited statement says that it received Rs 2.2 million as donations and the rest it earned through levies, membership fees and so on. Other parties are yet to submit their audited financial statement to the EC in accordance with the Political Parties Act.
THE THREE-DAY PEOPLE’S SAARC held in Kathmandu on the eve of 14 th Summit of SAARC in New Delhi ended on Sunday (March 25) by issuing 25-point Kathmandu Declaration. Organized by civil society organizations of the countries in the region, the People’s SAARC has decided to hand over their declaration to the SAARC Secretariat so that it will be taken up during the summit meeting. In the declaration, the People’s SAARC has urged all the parties concerned to act together to fight against poverty, injustice, imperialism and discrimination of gender, caste, religion, language and ethnicity. “From monarchic or military dictatorship to exercise of dictatorial power in the guise of democracy and to functioning formal democracies, all variations exist in the region,” the declaration stated, and reiterated its demand to ensure democracy, human rights, justice, demilitarization, de-nuclearization of states and its machineries. It has urged to make the region visa-free and reduce defense budget by 10 percent. It asked the SAARC to declare 2007-2017 a SAARC Dalit Rights decade.
THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD PROGRAM in Nepal has received donations of US$617,000 from the Netherlands and US$410,000 from Switzerland to support WFP’s efforts to provide food supplies to over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees living in seven camps in eastern Nepal . “The combined donation will secure enough food resources to feed all of the refugees for over one month,” said a WFP statement. “These donations could not have come at a more critical time as we were facing resource shortfalls that may have required food rationing for the months of April and May, placing the health and safety of the refugees at serious risk,” stated Richard Ragan, WFP’s Country Representative in Nepal. “Also let me make clear that recent reports that WFP is cutting rations to pressure refugees to consider 3 rd country repatriation are completely inaccurate.” Ragan said that the WFP in Nepal still needs over US$7 million for this year, or approximately US$1 million a month, to provide adequate food to the over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees who are completely dependent upon WFP’s humanitarian assistance.
SAYING THAT THE COUNTRY WAS FOCUSING MORE on political transition, a senior World Bank official has urged the leaders to prepare for economic growth as well. “The historic change in Nepal should be used to bring about economic development,” said Ken Ohashi, Country Director of the World Bank, addressing a program organized to launch Access to Financial Services report 2006 prepared by the World Bank, DFID and Nepal Rastra Bank. The program was organized by WB and NRB. Ohashi said the government should pay attention to the areas from where perceptible changes in the lifestyle of the people can be attained. He cautioned against delay in formulating strategies for economic growth and appealed for attracting investment, particularly in infrastructure sector. The report has pointed out the poor access to financial services from formal institutions. It says that only 26 percent of Nepali households have bank accounts, 18 percent have deposits in financial NGOs and cooperatives while 4 percent have access to micro-finance institutions. The rest depend on informal sectors such as friends, families, money lenders etc.
THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has called for probe into killings in Terai. “I am deeply shocked by the news of at least 25 killings in Nepal . Reports received indicate that these deaths, alongside many injuries, occurred during clashes between the Madheshi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in the Terai,” she said in a statement issued from Geneva on Thursday (March 24). She added, “I urge the authorities to take all necessary steps to initiate a full and impartial investigation into the killings and other violent incidents and to hold accountable anyone found to be responsible.”
