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Kathmandu Tuesday February 05, 2002 Magh 23, 2058.
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Government-donor convention
begins
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 4: The Nepal Development Forum
(NDF) meet, being held in Nepal for the first time, holds much significance, especially in
the light of the current crisis the nation is passing through. While the government during
the meet is expected to take the donors into confidence to garner support in the poverty
reduction strategies, among others, the donors are likely to seek the government’s
commitment on good governance and sincere implementation of programmes. The much-touted
meet, which opened up in the capital today, is slated to be held for the next three days
in Kathmandu and Pokhara.
Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat today said
that Nepal is moving towards the second generation reforms, broadly covering critical
areas such as civil service and governance reforms, corruption control and broad reforms
in the financial sector.
Addressing the inaugural session of the Nepal
Development Forum (NDF) meet, Dr Mahat added, "Other major reforms include
privatisation, rural development and private-public sector partnership, decentralisation,
civil society and local authorities, and enhancing the role of women and disadvantaged
groups and minorities."
Dr Mahat stressed that poverty reduction has
been the top priority of the Nepali government and its efforts are strongly focused over
attaining its prime objective of poverty reduction. "Nepal is making a conscious
effort to formulate the Tenth Plan with poverty alleviation as the main thrust," he
added.
Possibly commenting on the concerns raised by
donor agencies towards the commitments made by the government in the past, Dr Mahat said,
"An honest and vigorous effort is being made by Nepal to develop and implement
national programmes that are consistent with the commitments expressed."
Finance Minister expressed his hope that the
reinforcement of Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) would help maintain fiscal
discipline. The Tenth Plan, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), along with the MTEF,
are the main strategic papers that the government is presenting to the donors.
"A strong monitoring and evaluation system
will be instituted to ensure that the targets set in the PRSP/10th Plan are met,"
Minister Mahat said. He further hoped that the system would track progress on strategic
indicators developed by the MTEF.
The government will like to reassure the
development partners that the augmented budget support from donors, as well as its own
domestic resources, will be utilised most effectively within the framework of a
prioritised programme consistent with the country’s development agenda, he assured.
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