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Kathmandu,Thursday February 17, 2000 Fagun 05, 2056.
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Koirala
urges review in economic policies
By Bhaskar Sharma and Sudeep Shrestha
SYANGJA, Feb 16 - Former Prime Minister and the
President of the ruling Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala has pointed out the need to
review economic policies adopted in the post democratic period.
"There has been major policy review in
other countries at least once at the gap of ten years. Thus, it is important that we sit
for policy review and find out how much better results our past policies have yielded,
said he.
Though my argument for the revision of economic
policy may sound like an opposition to the present government, we should understand that
it is the need of the hour, said he.
Re-emphasizing the need for policy revision,
Koirala said, "Though majority of the current policies were initiated during my first
stint as the Prime Minister, I cannot say all of them are still right in the present
context," said he.
Koirala said this while addressing a two-day
long workshop on "Village Tourism" jointly organized by Nepal Tourism Board
(NTB), Sirubari Village Tourism Development Committee (SVTDC) and Nepal Village Resort Pvt
Ltd (NVRPL).
"Today we are running after the donor
agencies like World Bank and Asian Development Bank. We should bring this situation into
end and work to render our economy self-reliant through the mobilization of domestic
resources," said Koirala.
To free the country from the viscous circle of
poverty and make it self-reliant, we should invest in the potential areas like hydropower
and tourism, said he.
To bring a breakthrough in the economic
development of the country government should not hesitate to take risk to invest heavily
in priority sector, said he. On the occasion, Koirala also pointed out the need to promote
tourism up to the village level and to distribute its benefits to the rural areas, said
he.
Addressing the programme, Narayan Singh Pun,
Assistance Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation said that government is planning
various activities to promote tourism development. Assistant Minister Pun informed that
the government is planning to organize a mega event on May 29, 2003 to mark the golden
jubilee celebration of human ascendance to Mt Everest. Government has already announced a
number of events like Sports Himalaya and Destination Nepal Year 2002 to promote tourism
in the country.
Nepal’s tourism potential is so far
exploited only in the area of adventure tourism. Thus there is a need to diversify
Nepal’s tourism products, said he.
Diwakar Rana from Nepal Tourism Board expressed
hope that the workshop would greatly help to identify the prospects for the growth of
village tourism.
Presenting a working paper on "Village
Tourism: Potentials and Challenges ," Dr Surendra Bhakta Pradhananga, Managing
Director of Kathmandu Research Centre said since ninety percent of the present tourism is
concentrated in the urban areas, it is necessary to diversify the tourist destinations.
The current ninth five-year plan has also
recognized the importance of Village Tourism and has vowed to develop at least fourteen
villages of the kingdom into potential tourist destinations. "Though the government
has identified eight such villages, it has not been able to launch any programmes to
develop these villages into tourist spots," he commented.
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