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IFC to hold 24.4 % stake in Nepal Leasing Company

Kathmandu, 25 January: The International Finance Corporation, a World Bank affiliate, will invest $300,000 in the International & Finance Company Ltd. to hold 24.4 percent equity in the financial services company, an announcement said. Nepali promoters like National Life and General Insurance Company and Korean joint venture partner, KDB Capital Corporation will hold the balance shares.

Bernard Pasquier IFC Director for South Asia said, “The investment will strengthen ILFC's capital base and enable the company to increase the scale of its operations, especially its leasing business.” Siddheshwar Singh, Chairman of ILFC said, “There is considerable scope for leasing in a small and developing economy such as Nepal where it could be used as an ideal tool to manage relatively higher credit risk of small companies.”

Leasing in Nepal is primarily targeted at machinery and transport equipment. Imports in 1999 were estimated at $320 million and is expected to grow to $490million by 2002. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Tourism Minister resigns

Kathmandu, 25 January: Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Tarini Dutta Chataut resigned from his post Wednesday. His Majesty King Birendra accepted the resignation submitted by Minister Chataut through Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, according to a notice of Principal Press Secretariat of His Majesty the King.

Chataut's resignation came following a controversial deal between Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation and Laud Air of Austria to lease a Boeing aircraft for a period of 18 months. Parliament's Public Accounts Committee and anti-corruption body Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had earlier summoned Chataut for his alleged involvement in the Laud Air deal.

The PAC had instructed the government not to bring the aircraft until the investigation was complete on the controversial Laud Air deal however, the aircraft was brought against the instruction of parliamentary committee. Opposition parties have described this act as contempt of the Parliament and demanded resignation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on moral grounds. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Export up by 25 per cent

Kathmandu, 25 January: Trade Promotion Center (TPC), a non government body set up to promote Nepal’s international trade, says the country’s overseas export increased by 25 per cent during the four months of the current fiscal year which began in mid July 2000.

TPC attributes the overall increase in Nepal’s export over the past four months to the increase in the export of lentils from mid July. The export of lentils increased by 372 per cent in the last four months. According to the Center, Nepal exported 5329 metric tons of lentils worth Rs 196 million.

The export of pashmina shawls also increased by 170 per cent in the first four months of the current fiscal year bringing the total figure to Rs 2.18 billion. The export of pashmina shawls in the same period during the last year was Rs 753 million. The export of ready-made garments, handicrafts, tea, raw leather, and silver ornaments also saw a slight increase. TPC says the overall overseas trade of Nepal was worth Rs 166 billion in the last fiscal year, of which total export was worth Rs 51 billion, while total import was of 115 billion rupees.

Nepal has huge trade deficit in its international trade especially with India and has provided incentives to export trade in order to narrow the trade deficit. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

ADB gives Nepal $138.3 million loan

Kathmandu, 24 January: Coinciding with the visit of Asian Development Bank President Tadao Chino, the Manila based bank Wednesday gave Nepal $138.3 million in loans for three projects, the Finance Ministry said.

$ 120 million has been provided to support the $464 million Melamchi Water Supply Project that aims to alleviate the chronic water shortage faced in the capital. HMG, Japan Bank for International Development, NORAD, SIDA, NDF, OPEC Fund, World Bank and the Japanese government will finance the rest of the project expected to bring 170 million litres of water from the Melamchi river through a 26 km tunnel.

Another $11 million soft loan was set aside for a Crop Diversification Project in the mid west and far west development regions to increase farmers’ income through increased production and marketing of agricultural products in the next five years ending 2006.

The Bank also gave a loan of $7.3 million for the Corporate and Financial Governance Project to improve governance, transparency and accountability in the corporate and financial sectors. Finance Secretary Dr Bimal Koirala and Rajat M Nag, Deputy Director of the Bank, signed the loan agreement in the presence of Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya and Chino.

Total lending to Nepal in 2000 reached $173 million. In a statement Chino expressed the hope that other donors would also approve loans or grants to launch the Melamchi project. However he also warned that the Asian Development Fund “remains scarce and a precious resource” and added “future access to the ADF will now be increasingly performance-based.” The President asked the government to meet conditions by taking “necessary measures in a timely manner to fulfill the requirements for declaring these loans effective and for starting implementation.” Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Chino later discussed ties between Nepal and the Bank.
Nepalnews.com/br/at

King's China visit finalized. PM to visit France

Kathmandu, 24 January: His Majesty King Birendra accompanied by Her Majesty Queen Aishwarya will visit China in the last week of February, a senior government official said. Chinese and Nepali officials will finalise the dates for the visit this week. King Birendra is one of the most travelled heads of state to China, a diplomatic source said.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala will also pay an official visit to France beginning 6 March after the King's return from China, another official said. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Parliament's winter session to begin on 8 February

Kathmandu, 24 January: His Majesty King Birendra has called the winter session of the Parliament from 8 February, an announcement said Wednesday. The government met Tuesday to recommend the date to the King, a source close to the administration said. The ordinance promulgated by the King to establish Armed Police Force will be debated and approved. 

The Nepal Communist party (Unified Marxist-Leninist) has opposed the ordinance although there is much probability of approval due to the majority of the ruling Nepali Congress in the House. Nepalnews.com/br/at

ADB President Chino begins Nepal visit

Kathmandu, 24 January: President of the Asian Development Bank Tadao Chino began a three-day official visit to Nepal Wednesday at the invitation of the government. Finance Secretary Dr Bimal Koirala and other senior government officials received the chief of the Manila based Bank at the airport. Chino will inspect ADB assisted projects in west Nepal Friday.

Several loan agreements are expected to be approved by the Bank after the visit, a Nepali official said. Discussion on poverty alleviation, better and efficient use of loans and governance will also take place. Nepalnews.com/br/at

New rice grain to be developed

Kathmandu, 24 January: Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) and the Manila based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) will develop new pest and disease resistant strains of paddy to increase production in Nepal in the next four years. NARC Executive Director Dhruba Joshi and IRRI Director General Ronald P. Canton recently signed an accord to conduct the research. A Filipino technical team will visit Nepal in April to prepare a research strategy. NARC and IRRI have been working together for more than three decades.

The production of paddy, Nepal's main crop, has to be increased to meet the demand of 23 million people. In 1999 Nepal produced 3.7 million metric tons of paddy an increase of 1.9 percent from the previous year mainly because 2.4 percent additional farmland or 1.551 million hectares was cultivated. Nepalnews.com/br/at

NC elects 18 new CWC members, 10th convention concludes

Kathmandu, 24 January: The 10th General Convention of the Nepali Congress concluded in Pokhara after electing new leadership and adopting strategies, policies and programmes for the next four years. Prime Minister Koirala was re-elected for the second time, defeating his rival Sher Bahadur Deuba by a big margin. 18 new CWC members were directly elected by the convention. 

The newly elected CWC members are Ram Chandra Poudel, Sailaja Acharya, Prakash Man Singh, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Prakash Koirala, Mahesh Acharya, Sushil Koirala, Pradip Giri, Narahari Acharya, Arjun Narsingh KC, Baldev Sharma Majgaiya, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Mahanta Thakur, Bal Bahadur Rai, Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, Govinda Raj Joshi, Bimalendra Nidhi and Chiranjibi Wagle.

This is the first time that half of the executive body was directly elected by the convention. Earlier, only five members were elected and the party president nominated the rest.

There were two clear factions at the CWC election. The Koirala group won 12 seats out of 18 while the Deuba group won six. After being re-elected party president, Koirala said he would accommodate all in the party and move ahead with consensus and compromise for the unity of the party. "I will treat every body equally," he said. 

After the chairman of Election Committee Mukunda Regmi formally announced the result of the CWC election, Koirala declared the tenth general convention of the party at an end. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Wild elephants kill one person in Jhapa 

Kathmandu, 24 January: A group of five wild elephants trampled Basudeb Dhami, 60, to death while he was asleep at home in Jiogidaha village near Gaighat Saturday night, police said. 

Other family members fled to save themselves. Wild elephants frequently cross into east Nepal from the Indian state of Assam to forage. Nepalnews.com/br/at 

Swiss national on world tour dies 

Kathmandu, 24 January: Christophe Glyrain, a 23-year-old Swiss national, on a motorcycle world tour died in an accident after hitting a speed breaker at a check post near Royal Bardiya National Park, Monday. Glyrain had entered Nepal from India through Mahendranagar. 

He was rushed to hospital by soldiers of the Royal Nepal Army, and died shortly after. Glyrain had visited Singapore, Germany, Jordan and Pakistan. Nepalnews.com/br/at 

Nepal, Bhutan to begin preliminary verification work

Kathmandu, 24 January: For the first time in a decade, officials from Nepal and Bhutan will begin "preliminary work" to identify the status of 100,000 Bhutanese refugees Thursday at camps in Jhapa, a Foreign Ministry official said. A five-member Nepali team led by Ms Usha Nepal reached Jhapa Tuesday. 

A Bhutanese team led by Dr Sonam Tenzing also arrived in Kakarvitta Wednesday. "This is going to be preliminary work to assess logistics. Actual verification will still take some time," the official said, adding "Right now I cannot say for how many days they will meet."

Bhutan and Nepal agreed in December to form a joint verification team of five members each to identify refugees for their repatriation at the 10th round of ministerial level talks. 

Bhutan previously said the refugees living in UN-administered camps in Jhapa and Morang were illegal immigrants while Nepal maintained they were Bhutanese who should be taken back by Thimpu. The EU and US have both praised efforts made by the two nations towards solving the crisis. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Three policemen killed in Maoist ambush

Kathmandu, 23 January: Three policemen were killed and several others injured at Kanchowk village in neighboring Gorkha district at around 6:30 am Tuesday, in an ambush laid by Maoists, police said. Police reinforcements have been sent to the area and the injured have been flown to the capital.

Gorkha is the home district of Dr Baburam Bhattarai, the second ranking leader of the insurgents fighting for a communist state in the kingdom. Nepalnews.com/br/at