Exporters chide Govt for its indifference

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 7 : Exporters today warned that despite the observance of Export Year 2003 they would be forced to mark a ‘No Export Day’ if the government continues to turn a deaf ear to their demands for a conducive environment and necessary facilities to boost exports.

Not just did they flay the taxes imposed on export earnings, they also came down heavily upon the non-operation of the much-hyped Export Processing Zones, the inefficient duty-drawback system, the hassles involved in documentation processes, and the inept implementation of export-friendly policies, among others.

Exporters even said that given the important role played by exports in the economic growth of the nation, the government must formulate high-priority national level programmes to boost exports.

However, they accused that while the government has failed in its endeavour to promote exports, even the apex body for planning and development, the National Planning Commission, has not been able to formulate effective programmes and policies on the export sector.

While effective plans and policies are a must for a sustained growth in investment and exports, the businessmen said that Nepal must lobby at international level to expand the country’s market for exports. "For that, the government must play a pivotal role."

The exporters were speaking at the sixth annual general meeting of Export Council of Nepal (ECON) in the capital today, which was inaugurated by Assistant Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Jagat Bahadur Gurung.

On the occasion, speakers pointed that Nepal cannot afford to remain complacent under the present circumstances, not just because of the domestic economic problems that it is confronted with, but more importantly in the context of globalisation and liberalisation.

"To survive the threats of globalisation, effective export packages are needed. To boost competitiveness of Nepali goods abroad, government policies must be directed towards measures that help reduce cost, not increase burden," they said.

President of ECON Yagya Narayan Gupta, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, President of Garment Association Nepal Kiran Saakha, Vice President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Chandi Raj Dhakal, and Vice President of Confederation of Nepalese Industries Tek Chandra Pokhrel, among others, also spoke on the occasion

Agricultural reform needed for food security

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 7 : The agriculture sector, which has been performing satisfactorily compared to other sectors, needs a great degree of improvement to meet the ultimate objective of poverty alleviation, said Dr Shankar Sharma, Vice President of National Planning Commission (NPC).

Speaking at a programme on "Policy and Strategy for Poverty Alleviation and Food Security", Sharma said that food security in the country could only be ensured if the agro output growth match the increasing rate of population.

Sharma’s comment has come at a time when agro experts of the country have expressed their concerns over food insecurity in Nepal owing to the declining rate of food productivity.

Though the government introduced Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP) with the assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the mid-nineties with an aim of uplifting the agro-sector, agriculture growth is declining. While the APP had targeted to achieve an annual growth of at least 5 per cent, the current growth rate below 2 per cent.

Elaborating the failures of agro sector to meet the set objective, Sharma pointed the need of improved management of resource allocation and reorientation for the development of agriculture. Nonetheless, he also laid emphasis of improving the service delivery system in order to uplift the present status of the country.

However, he assured that the Tenth Plan has incorporated various programmes for developing the agro sector of the country. "The Tenth Plan, whose overriding objective is to eliminate poverty through the development of the agro sector, will be offering various promotional programmes," added Sharma.

However, he also warned of further decline in agriculture productivity if the set plans are not transformed into reality. "We always have failed to implement our plans effectively. A monitoring mechanism is a must for the progress of the agro sector," he remarked.

Kirti Bahadur Chand, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives stated that the prime objective of poverty reduction can only be successful only when the farming pattern is changed.

"What we need at present is the introduction of modern techniques of crop cultivation to uplift our backtracked agriculture sector," said Chand adding, "But, the government needs community support for the timely improvement in the agro sector."

Meera Bhattarai bags Manager Award 2002

Post Rep

KATHMAND, Feb 7 : Management Association of Nepal (MAN) has announced to give Best Manager Award 2002 to Meera Bhattarai. The Association made the announcement at its annual general meeting held here today. Chairperson of Fair Trade Group and Nepal Association of Handicraft Products, Bhattarai is actively involved in handicraft production and their exports for a considerably long time.

Bhattarai is an exemplary woman entrepreneur who has been employing over one thousand people, majority of them are women. Meera Bhattarai is the first woman to receive the award.

Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Dr Badri Prasad Shrestha said that the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have become an immense financial burden to the nation. The SOEs have been incurring a daily loss Rs 250 million and the only way to get rid of them is to privatise them, he said.

The finance minister said that the nation is not in a position to bear the foreign debt amounting to 221 billion rupees and the additional loss incurred by the SOEs. He also urged all to help in stabilising peace that has been restored following the cease-fire announced by the government and the Maoist. The return of peace has shown indication of improving economy, he added.

Chairman of MAN Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada said that there is a need of managerial reform. The achievement made through the combination of labour and capital is not enough. Therefore, there is a need to raise productivity through managerial reform, said Dr Khatiwada.

Narayan Manandhar and Dilip Adhikari had presented working papers on Managing the Rising Conflict and Management Review 2002 respectively on the occasion. The 22nd AGM would elect new executive body of the Association, which has 152 corporate members, 151 life members and 1249 primary members.

Nepali manpower agencies obstructing return of workers

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 7 : Apprehended by the possible disclosure of their frauds while supplying workers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai-based agents of Nepali manpower agencies have been allegedly threatening Nepali workers in the UAE who intend to seek amnesty announced by the UAE government.

According to the victims, the manpower agencies make efforts to prevent Nepali workers from seeking amnesty as they could reveal the frauds of the agencies back home.

The UAE Government, with an aim to cut down a large number of illegal foreign work force, had recently announced amnesty to illegal workers.

Over 300 such Nepali labourers, who are facing severe hardship in the country have been reported to seek the UAE Government’s amnesty to return to Nepal, says one of the victims who managed to return to Nepal with great difficulty.

"The agents of local manpower agencies in Dubai threatened us not to leave the UAE in any condition," said Khagendra Karki, who claimed to be one of the victims of the local manpower agency. "Most illegal Nepali workers are intending to return Nepal as soon as possible," said Karki.

However, Daan Dhwaj Basnet, Deputy Director General of the Department of Labour and Employment Promotion (DLEP) expressed his ignorance over any such reports from the UAE. However, he informed that Karki and other four Nepali had returned to Nepal had filed the case against N P manpower agency for cheating them.

Large number of foreign workers, besides Nepalis are seeking amnesty in the UAE. The concerned embassies of these illegal workers are freely processing for their outpass and are also making arrangements for reducing airfare for their return to their respective countries.

NBL vows to improve credit mgmt

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 7 : The newly released management plan of Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) has pointed that the weak credit management was the principal cause for the present financial jittery of the bank and has stressed on massive reform.

According to the study conducted by ICC Irish Bank, the new foreign team that took-over the management of the NBL some six months ago for a two-year period, has hinted that besides strong reforms in credit management, the new management would particularly focus on loan recovery.

Apart from credit management reform, the study has also pointed out that accounting, asset and liability, information system and human resource management, and internal audit should also be reformed timely.

The management plan, prepared by the new management and approved by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and the World Bank (WB), the principal lender to the management hand-over project, have also underlined that the past NBL management lacked minimum banking practice at all levels. The plan has vowed to identify all existing irregularities and corruption within the bank and appropriate steps would be taken to develop appropriate banking practice.

The ICC bank group, in its management plan also disclosed that it has adopted a new credit policy and has constituted a new credit committee. The newly formed committee has been making progresses in reviewing all the issued credits and has started categorizing all the assets of the bank into good and bad categories.

The plan has also stated that within the four months of take-over, the new management has recovered Rs 520 million bad loans. Development of profit-oriented professional environment and enhancement of sustainable consumer services are on the top among seven targets pledged by the new management plan.

Similarly, under the plan of account management reform, the new plan vows to update the accounts and upgrade the existing account keeping system to an international standard. Similarly, the plan also aims at initiating necessary reconciliation by identifying the existing value of assets and the plan states that the central office of the bank is coordinating with all the branches of the bank to update the overall account records.

According to the plan, the new management has already initiated reforms in the account keeping system of the central office of the bank and account reconciliation up to July 2000 of the central office has already been completed. The bank is also preparing to issue and implement account directives with due internal controlling mechanism.

Similarly, in order to accelerate the current status of the information technology, the new management has already conducted a study on necessary software and the bank is planning to discuss and sign an agreement with Mercantile Office System to immediately upgrade its customer service.

Likewise, the plan has also brought several measures to improve its weak human resources condition by bringing a clear policy on promotion, transfer and appointment of the employees of the bank. This apart, adaptations of necessary training for the employees, performance evaluation mechanism and improvements in the existing salary structures are some of the reform plans unveiled today.

RNAC to fly to S’pore, Malaysia

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 7 : The Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) has decided to start fresh twice a week flights to Singapore and Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur within a month.

The decision was taken by the meeting of Board of Directors held on Tuesday, informed a high level RNAC official, stating that the date of flight commencement would be announced soon.

Confirming that the national flag carrier is beginning new flights, K B Poudel, Acting Managing Director of the Corporation said that the decision is based upon the recommendations of an in-house committee that carried out the feasibility study on these new routes.

"The study team has suggested that the new flights would get good response, especially due to the increasing number of Nepali workers flying to Malaysia," he added. The RNAC’s flight to Kuala Lumpur would be the first direct air-link between Malaysia and Nepal.

According to the source at the RNAC, the corporation is expecting a minimum of 50 per cent passenger occupancy on Boeing 757 flight to Kuala Lumpur from Kathmandu. "It is expected that the Singapore stoppage would help in supporting the incoming flights," the source added.

The new flights would be operated by the existing RNAC planes, informed the source. The duration of Kathmandu-Singapore flight is two and half-hours, and the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur flight is a little more than an hour.

The main strength of the proposed new flights is the existing Nepali labour force working in Malaysia. According to the figures of Labour and Employment Promotion Department, there are 90,000 legal workers in Malaysia. The latest statistics say that some 7,000 workers fly to Malaysia every month.

After the decision of the Malaysian Government to allow Nepali instead of Bangladeshi and Vietnamese to work in Malaysia, Nepal is expected to export 100,000 workers to Malaysia. Estimates say that the average earning of the Nepali workers in Malaysia is Rs 12,000 per month.

The increasing trend of foreign departures to Malaysia has not just attracted the national flag carrier, but even the Qatar Airways has announced to expand its Doha-Kathmandu flights to Kuala Lumpur from April. Currently, as there is no direct link between Nepal and Malaysia, Nepali working force reach Malaysian capital via Bangkok or via Delhi.

Tourism promotion campaign in Darjeeling, Sikkim

DARJEELING, Feb 7 (PR) - With the recent cease-fire raising hopes for peace and tranquility in Nepal, the world’s only Hindu kingdom has launched a campaign to attract tourists from India with renewed vigour.

The last few months had seen diversion of tourists to the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim from the trouble-torn kingdom.

As part of the campaign, a two-member Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) delegation, comprising Gyanendra Prasad Dhakal and Sanjeev P. Pandey, visited Siliguri, which is known as the gateway to the Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan and Northeast India, on Wednesday. They highlighted the kingdom’s picturesque topography and scope for mountaineering, trekking and other adventure sports.

The NTB has planned to introduce a special sticker that will ensure a smooth journey for visitors entering Nepal by land. The sticker, to be given after a mandatory check at the border, will exempt tourists from repeated security checks within Nepal.

Pandey said Nepal had recorded a 30-per cent increase in tourist arrivals since June 2002 despite the post-11/9 slump in international tourism.

Dhakal claimed, " Nepal’s popularity as a tourist destination in India has increased manifold in recent years for a number of reasons like easy access, pleasant weather, acceptability of Indian currency and the use of Hindi."

The NTB will launch similar campaigns in major Indian cities in collaboration with local tour operators. The kingdom expects a boom in its tourist trade this summer that marks the 50th anniversary of the Everest conquest.

Second phase of Visit Pokhara Campaign begins

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 7 : Assistant Minister for Culture-Tourism and Civil Aviation Ravi Bhakta Shrestha inaugurated the second phase of Visit Pokhara (Jaun Hai Pokhara) 2003 campaign here today.

The one-year programme that aims to develop Pokhara as a regional hub of Nepalese tourism industry was launched last October, jointly by Pokhara-based tourism entrepreneurs and business associations. The campaign has a set of religious and cultural attractions along with several events.

The tourism campaign also aims at promoting Manakamana, Jomsom, Muktinath and nearby religious, historical and other spots of tourists’ importance, making Pokhara the hub. With an aim to attract people from several groups, the programme has four sets of packages - educational, family, honeymoon and pilgrimage tours.

Speaking at the programme, Assistant Minister Shrestha pointed out the need to promote domestic tourism in public-private partnership approach. "The government would always support those programmes initiated by the private sectors," he added.

Stating that the current situation has forced Nepali tourism entrepreneurs to focus more on domestic tourism, Minister Shrestha said the programmes like Visit Pokhara would encourage domestic visitors.

The second phase of the programme, known as ‘Spring’s Pokhara’, would concentrate on promoting major Nepali cities including Kathmandu, Birgunj, Biratnagar and Dharan, informed Bishwo Shankar Palikhe, chairman of the organising committee. In the second phase the promotion will be carried out in the Indian cities too.

The first phase of the campaign, known as ‘Festive Pokhara’, concluded on January. This is followed by ‘Spring’s Pokhara’, the second Phase programme and would last till May. The Final phase of the campaign - ‘Greenery Pokhara’ - would be organised from June to September.

Narendra Bajracharya, President of Hotel Association Nepal, pointed out the need to promote Pokhara as a spot of water-based sports tourism.

Pokhara, one of the hot tourist spots, attracts more than 25 per cent of the total tourists visiting the country, and most of the tourists come to this scenic valley for sightseeing and trekking on Annapurna region. Sightseeing and boating in more than a dozen of lakes are the major attractions of the Pokhara valley.