PM attends millennium summit of UN

Kathmandu, Sept.7 (RSS): Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala attended the inaugural session of the millennium summit of the United Nations at the United Nations headquarters in New York Wednesday morning.

The Prime Minister joined the heads of state and government at a luncheon hosted by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Wednesday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier, he gave a live interview at CNN. He fielded questions from different listeners.

Earlier, Prime Minister Koirala had a meeting with chairman of the Council of Minister of Bhutan Mr Lyompo Yeshey Zimba.

Matters of bilateral interests, including Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and need for greater economic interaction between the two countries, were discussed during the meeting..

Mr Murari Raj Sharma, permanent representative of Nepal to the United Nations, Mr Damodar Prasad Gautam, Royal Nepalese Ambassador to the USA, Mr Hari Sharma, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Narayan Shumsher Thapa, foreign secretary, were present on the occasion.

In the afternoon, Prime Minister Koirala met with Mr Juan Samovia, director general of International Labour Organisation.

Matters of interests to Nepal and ILO, including the issue of elimination of the worst form of child labour, were discussed during the meeting.

Foreign secretary Murari Raj Sharma, Mr Hari Sharma, and senior officials of the Foreign Ministry and the permanent mission of Nepal to the United Nations were present during the meeting.

At the sidelines of the summit, Prime Minister Koirala also met His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, His Highness Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard of Saudi Arabia, president Joseph Estrada of the Philippiness and the Prime Minister of Nauru.

Coureous exchanges were made during those brief meetings.

Purpose of democracy to provide rights

Pokhara, Sept. 7 (RSS): Member of the National Human Rights Commission Shushil Pyakurel has said that the meaning of democracy is to empower the people and provide them rights.

Speaking at a two-day second national conference of the Human Rights Education Radio Listeners Club organised by the Informal Sector Services Centre (INSEC), he said that movements should be launched in the villages to end untouchability that exists in the society and added that human rights movement in Nepal is very powerful in the whole of South of Asian Region.

Meanwhile, member of the National Human Rights Commission Sushil Pyakurel says the government cannot prohibit the distribution in prison or any other place of newspapers and magazines published in accordance with the rules and regulations.

Mr. Pyakurel made this remark while fielding journalists’ queries at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Press Club Pokhara here today.

Following the enactment of the right to information act, it will be the right of the press to have access to free information, he said adding, even before that it is an obligation on the part of state machinery to provide information that is sought.

He said journalists should collect information not for themselves but for the public.

The National Human Rights Commission member also opined that it was necessary for both the government and private sector news media to inform the people about the contents of the National Human Rights Commission Act under which the commission was formed three months ago as per the democratic constitution of the country.

Mr. Pyakurel said that the commission had also requested the government in writing to make long and short term arrangements for the rehabilitation of the Kamaiyas.

Both the Maoists and the government should respect human rights as guaranteed by the democratic constitution of the country, he stressed.

He said it was the commission’s responsibility to also see to it that the families of policemen killed by Maoists or Maoists killed by police receive proper compensation since all citizens are equal.

Secretary of the Press Club Pokhara Punya Poudel disclosed that the club has been organising such programmes from time to time.

Meanwhile, commission member Pyakurel also inspected the Kaski district prison today.

Replying to a question after the inspection, Mr. Pyakurel said there was no reason for him to feel dissatisfied with conditions at the district prison.

ADB provides technical aid

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Sept 7: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has granted a technical assistance (TA) to the Government of Nepal for strengthening its national statistical system an ADB press release said today. The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) will be the executing agency of this TA which will be implemented in 36 months.

The most important activity under this project is the development of a national consolidated statistics plan (CNSP) that will identify the most critical statistics required to support and monitor government policy formulation and decision making. The CNSP will establish priorities for data production and provide means for a more rational allocation of the very limited government resources. The development of CNSP will be done through a series of consultative workshops with all the data producing government agencies and major data users. All government ministries will be requested to review the draft plan. All the comments and suggestions will be considered in finalising the CNSP.

The reorganisation of CBS to complement the requirements of the CNSP is expected to be one of the first steps in the implementation of the plan. A technical secretariat to the National Stastical Council will also have to be established to correspond with government agencies and monitor the implementation of the plan.

The TA will also partially support the implementation of the major sectors of the CNSP, namely: agriculture stastics, poverty statistics and national accounts, by providing advisory services and by funding training, special studies and surveys. The TA will also help ensure the sustainability of the CNSP by assisting the government in discovering and harnessing other sources of technical advice through the promotion of local research using large data of the CBS.

FNCCI annual general meeting on Sept 15-16

Kathmandu, Sept. 7 (RSS): The 34th annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) is to be convened at Kathmandu on September l5 and l6.

According to the FNCCI, about 700 representatives from district chambers of commerce and industry and industrial and business houses will take part in the general meeting.

During the meeting, besides regular business, interaction programmes will be held with the concerned ministers with regard to improvement in the national economy and extensive discussions on socio-economic aspects will also take place.

The meeting, which coincides with the 35th year of establishment of the FNCCI, is expected to make the Federation more dynamic in the days ahead and also chart a future course of action.

The Federation has so far formulated different programmes to expedite the economic activities of the country for the new century.

After extensive deliberations on industry, commerce and supplies, labour, tourism and revenue, the meeting will adopt resolutions to be submitted to the concerned authority for their implementation.

The meeting of the Federation set up in 2022 Bikram Era will also thrash out the relevant national and local issues with regard to different aspects of the national economy including those in the fields of industry and commerce.

The Federation brings together a total of 83 district and municipality level chambers of commerce and industry of 69 districts, 48 commodity associations, nine bi-national level chambers of commerce and industry and 416 associate members under its umbrella.

The Federation has entered into memorandums of understanding with 21 national level chambers of commerce and industry and other business organisations of various countries, it is stated by the fncci.

Poaching control discussed

Kathmandu, Sept. 7 (RSS): The Royal Chitwan National Park held a discussion on poaching control at Sauraha today.

The meeting discussed the need to preserve the rare species of wild animals, control poaching of wildlife by punishing poachers, strengthen local information system and help government efforts.

A poaching control coordination committee has been also formed under the chairmanship of CDO Tikaram Aryal with the representation of the local police, district forest office, buffer zone development council and the Royal Chitwan National Park resistance unit for local level coordination.

Secretary at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation Rabi Bahadur Bista spoke of the need of concerted efforts to control illegal poaching.

Chief conservation officer Gopal Prasad Upadhyaya shed light on the efforts made to control poaching and the achievements made so far in this regard.

Various other speakers including director general Tirthaman Shakya, district forest officer Madhav Acharya and WWF Nepal representative Dr Chandra Prasad Gurung also spoke at the function participated in by some 50 persons from various NGO’s, INGO’s and international institutions.

Secretary Bista, on the occasion, presented a cash award of Rs 10,000 to Major Dhan Bahadur Thapa for his contribution to control illegal poaching. The prize has been provided by the WWF.

Mr Bista also handed over a cheque of Rs 1.338 million through the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation to carry out various works like construction of embankment along the river, school building and roads.

The programme was chaired by regional forest director Chakraman Shakya.