Missing for the Year of Mountains -focus!

BY KRISHNA SHARMA

Kathmandu, Dec. 13: While the countries across the world are joining hands with the United Nations to celebrate 2002 as International Year of Mountains, Nepal seems to be lagging behind in coming out with focussed policies and programmes to serve the theme in the best way possible.

Keeping in mind the widespread poverty which leads to unending conflicts in the mountains, the United Nations has designated 2002 as the International Year of Mountains so that the struggle against poverty of about one-tenth of the world’s poor, who live in the mountains, could be intensified.

The government had formed a National Preparation Committee, under the then Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola, to mark 2002 as the International Year of Mountains at the national level some six months back but because of the change in the portfolio and other reasons, the committee had failed to give necessary impetus to the policies and programmes.

Now that the Year is just round the corner, the government recently reconstituted the Committee under the chairmanship of Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) Gopal Man Shrestha.

The recently held meeting of the nine-member Committee has decided to launch some kick-off programmes in the first week of January 2002.

As part of the kick-off programme the government is going to develop a botanical garden at Daman, Makawanpur district. That will be the second such garden in the country after Godavari Botanical Garden at Lalitpur.

Similarly, the government is going to declare a buffer zone around Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) so that the local people could contribute in maintaining the Park and also they could be benefited from the National Park.

Kick-off programmes

"This is being done to not only mark the International Year of Mountains but also the Silver Jubilee year of SNP," Joint Secretary and spokesman at the MoFSC Dr. Udaya Raj Sharma said.

According to him, after the declaration of the buffer zone, about 50 per cent of the income of the SNP will be distributed to the local community so that they could help themselves in their fight against poverty.

The year 2002 is also significant for the Department of Forest since it is celebrating its Golden Jubilee. To mark the year for both the occasions the Ministry will release postal stamps bearing pictures of different mountains and many other facets related to them.

"Along with its plan of launching awareness raising programmes about the importance of mountains throughout the year, the Committee will identify gaps regarding mountain development and set up policies for integrated mountain development," Dr. Sharma told The Rising Nepal.

However, the most challenging part before the Committee is collecting enough funds to support the programmes. Dr. Sharma also conceded that lack of enough funds was the main reason behind the Committee not being able to introduce specific programmes.

So far, the government has allocated only Rs. 500,000 for marking the International Year of Mountains. However, Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and FAO have promised to support the Committee in its secretarial and other projects.

As to what is being done to draw international attention since the country houses eight out of 14 peaks above 8000-meter along with Everest, Sharma said that the Committee would form a special sub-committee to look into that matter.

"And that sub-committee, which will be comprised of institutions related to mountaineering, will look after the mountaineering activities," he said.

The nine-member Committee includes one representative each from SDC, International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)-country office, King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC), RONAST, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Dr. Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha from among the mountain experts along with Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Gopal Man Shrestha as its chairman.

Meanwhile, officials at NTB are skeptical about the success of the Year. "In order to achieve UN’s noble aim of alleviating the crippling poverty among mountain people thereby focussing the importance of mountains as the source of bio-diversity and more than half the world’s fresh water, the government has to do so many things," an official at the NTB said.

"We have to draw the attention of the whole world while celebrating 2002 as the Year of Mountains because ours is a unique mountainous country where there is Mount Everest, highest number of mountain peaks of more than 8,000 m, rich bio-diversity plus many more things," he said.

However, other Committee members say there still is time for all these things.

The United Nations, the recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace, is committed to make the International Year of Mountains a complete success realising that the majority of conflicts (23 conflicts out of 27) in the world today are being fought in mountainous areas and that could be stopped only when people there are well off.

17 suspects held in Chitwan

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bharatpur, Dec. 13: Security persons have arrested 17 suspected terrorists in Chitwan after the declaration of emergency in the country. Four of them are still under detention and they are being interrogated.

The security official of the district said that the two suspected Maoists -- Jeevan Durai and Aik Raj Dhaka of Chainpur VDC were arrested today by the joint patrol team of the army and police.

Schools calls for stepping up security

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bharatpur, Dec13: The Principal and the management of the Shanti High School of Piple, Chitwan, have asked the District Administration Office for security after the Maoist supporters prevented the school management from collecting examination fees.

At least five Maoist supporters had warned the principal of dire consequence if they collected the fees from the students. The fees were collected with the decision of the school management board, but the Maoists also forced the school return the fees from the students who had already paid them. The school is put under tight security.

Soldiers kill one terrorist, arrest 20

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 13: Royal Nepalese Army soldiers killed one terrorist in Dolakha district and arrested 20 suspected from different parts of the country today.

A press release of the Defence Ministry stated that security personnel assigned for the security of the Dolakha headquarters shot dead Dan Bahadur Tamang of Gaurimudi near Charikot while trying to flee from the custody Wednesday night.

Under its cordon and search operation against the Maoist terrorists, security personnel have arrested two from Santitar of Okhaldhunga, 15 from Ghartigaun of Rolpa and one each from Darchula, Kaski and Chitwan districts.

Likewise, soldiers foiled the Maoist terrorists’ attempt to disrupt Mahayagya, a religious function, at Santeswor Mahadev Temple at Jharubasi VDC of Lalitpur district Wednesday night. The army had reached the spot after it received information that that terrorists were trying to obstruct the ‘puja’ and took the situation under control.

Security forces arrested four terrorists and recovered four muskets, 69 bond papers, audiocassettes and documents related to terrorist activities from the house of a local teacher at Danda Gaun of Bajhang.

Similarly, security personnel recovered five muskets and some documents related to the terrorists at Baramja VDC of Myagdi district Wednesday.

Top agenda: Poverty alleviation

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 13: Even as its detailed-checklist is yet to be finalised, the upcoming 11th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held here next month (January 4-6) would have certain economic and social issues high on the agenda, Foreign Ministry officials have said.

Topping the list would be poverty alleviation in the region that accounts to more than 80 per cent of the world's poor while it does not cover even five per cent of the global land-area. "The meeting will certainly dwell on different measures to alleviate poverty," said a senior official requesting customary anonymity.

Ever since it was formed in 1985, SAARC's prime objective has been to address poverty in South Asia. Article I in the association's Charter has it that SAARC aims to promote welfare of the people of South Asia and to improve their quality of life. "The objective is also to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realise their full potentials."

The sixth SAARC Summit held in Colombo in 1991 had accorded highest priority to the alleviation of poverty in South Asia. The same meet had decided to establish an Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA)

consisting of eminent persons from member states to conduct an in-depth study of the diverse experiences of member states and report their recommendations on poverty alleviation to the seventh summit.

ISACPA did submit a report to the seventh summit hosted by Bangladeshi capital Dhaka in 1993, that had expressed its commitment to eradicate poverty from South Asia preferably by the year 2002. The identified agenda of action to attain that goal were social mobilization, policy of decentralised agricultural development and small-scale labour-intensive industrialisation and human development.

Reaffirming their commitment to poverty eradication in South Asia preferably by 2002, the SAARC leaders, during the eighth summit in New Delhi in 1995, had endorsed the recommendations of their Finance/Planning Ministers to combat poverty in the region. They had also declared the year 1995 as the "SAARC Year of Poverty Eradication."

SAARC meet

Among the social issues that would surface during the 11th summit here, children and women welfare would certainly be there, according to Foreign Ministry officials. Two draft conventions -- Convention on regional arrangement for the promotion of child welfare in South Asia and Convention on combating and preventing crime against trafficking in women and children for prostitution -- will be signed during the regional meet. "Since the two conventions have already been approved by the 10th Summit, they will be signed this time."

The 11th SAARC Summit's spotlight would also be on the deliberations on a report prepared by the Group of Eminent Persons (GEP). Formed during the ninth SAARC Summit in the Maldivian capital Male in 1997, GEP was entrusted with the responsibility of undertaking a comprehensive appraisal of SAARC, and identify measures to vitalise and enhance the effectiveness of the association in achieving its objectives.

The GEP consists of one representative from each member state that has the discretion to appoint an additional representative in the group. The representatives in the group are supposed to be persons with distinguished backgrounds in activities pertaining to regional cooperation.

The group has prepared a report titled "Vision beyond 2000" that, according to officials, basically deals with the course of action of SAARC. The report, said they, talks about establishing South Asian Economic Union in succession to South Asian Free Trade Area scheduled to come into being by 2015. "It also talks about creating South Asian Customs Union by 2015."

After holding a special session to discuss on the report in Colombo this year, the Standing Committee of SAARC is still considering the GEP report.

Community dev, watershed projects discussed

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 13: Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Zenhi Kaminaga paid a courtesy call on Minister for Forests and Soil Conservation Gopal Man Shrestha at his office today.

Minister Shrestha and Japanese envoy Kaminaga discussed various aspects of bilateral assistance, said a press statement issued by the Ministry. The two showed satisfaction over the performance of community development and watershed projects in Parbat and Kaski districts and agreed on the need to expand such programmes.

Minister Shrestha gave a vote of thanks to the Japanese government for its assistance to Nepal and hoped that the support would be continued.

The Secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MFSC) Chandi Prasad Shrestha and the Director Generals of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Reserves and the Department of Soil and Watershed Protection were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, MFSC organised a one-day national workshop on ‘Vulnerable Livelihood in Mountain Areas of Nepal’ in Kathmandu on Wednesday in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

The workshop participated in by about 40 governmental officials, NGO workers and UN employees discussed extensively the issues of poverty, food security and livelihood in Nepal. The workshop can be seen in relation with the UN International Year of Mountains-2002.

The participants said the marginal and poor farmers and Dalits across the country face varieties of vulnerabilities and called for defence strategies to overcome them. The FAO is to assist Nepal in preparing a profile of groups of citizens who are vulnerable in terms of food security.

Time to act for farm workers

BY RAJKUMAR K.C

Kathmandu, Dec. 13: Around six million rural agricultural workers, who constitute 80-85 per cent of total labour force in the country, are still unnoticed in the main economic domain.

Even the concerned department of His Majesty's Government does not have actual statistics of these workers. Moreover politically fragmented trade unions here are also reluctant to do something for these workers in the unorganised sector.

Trade unionists often charge the government for doing nothing to safeguard the interest of workers even in the the organised sector.

The Labour Act–2049, which was introduced, a couple of years before has not been effective to address the real problem of workers even in the organised sectors such as-construction, manufacturing and hotel.

The Act, according to experts, is almost silent about agricultural workers.

Though the government had introduced the system of minimum wage for rural agricultural workers some two years before, it has not been implemented in many parts of the country. Workers in agriculture are getting the same amount of wage as they used to receive some ten years before.

Nepal's multi-structural geography, in which more than 83 per cent is covered by the hilly and mountainous region is dominated by agriculture where around 60 per cent total labour force exist. The remaining 40 per cent labour forces are in the Terai region.

The rural agricultural workers are not getting the minimum wage of sixty rupees per day (eight hours). And the Department of Labour is not bothered about it, says Khila Nath Dahal, general secretary of DECONT – a trade union related to the Nepali Congress.

Dahal, who has been working as a trade unionist for more than 15 years, says that the condition of workers in unorganised sector is too poor.

Besides, there is no statistics of agricultural workers.

The agricultural sector, which has 38 per cent contribution in the total economy, is afflicted by the traditional system of employing workers. On the one hand, agricultural workers are still not paid according to the government's new rule, on the other Nepalese workers have no options other than accepting a very nominal amount of wage because of a fear of being replaced by the workers from across the border. They are cheaper than Nepalese workers.

The government is serious about tackling the issue of rural agricultural workers, says Lalit Bahadur Thapa, Director General at the Department of Labour.

The Department is yet to make a desired outcome, but it is committed to work for safeguarding the rights of workers in both organised and unorganised sectors. And we are equally concerned about the implementation of the Labour Act 2049, admits Thapa.

Nepal has signed most of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions and it is committed for uplift of labour as well. However, much needs to be done in practice.

It is said the Department of Labour (DoL) does not do anything except keeping records of workers going abroad for blue colour job. And trade unions are not well equipped too. In fact they are confined to the urban areas where trade unionists have better access to the donor agencies.

In fact the workers in the unorganised sectors like agriculture, which constitute more than 85 per cent in the total labour force, should be addressed properly, admits Bishnu Rimal, general secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT). The rural agriculture workers are facing several problems including health and minimum wage.

The ILO has been providing Nepal a substantial cooperation to support workers. And trade unions and non–government organisations are also getting help from the ILO. However, most of the non-government organisations (NGOs) are not serious towards their objectives despite ILO's cooperation. In many cases NGOs are cheating donor agencies in the name of child labour and bonded labour, says one of the senior officials at the DoL, on condition of anonymity.

DPA Naidu, Senior Workers Specialist of ILO reiterated ILO's commitment to support labour in unorganised sector. The problems relating to safety of workers in rural areas should be addressed, suggests Naidu.

GEFONT organised a two-day seminar on 'Rural Agriculture workers'. Representatives from various trade unions shed light on the issue of tackling the problem being faced by the agriculture workers in rural areas.

- According to ILO there are more than six million rural agriculture workers across the country.

- Around two million workers depend on wages

-Around one million are both wage earners and owners

-The number of families involved in agriculture is 3.6 million.

-The number of labour on daily wage is 700 thousand

-Self employed farmers/workers number six million

Sindhuli people feeling safer now

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Sindhuli, Dec. 13: People of Sindhuli district have started feeling secure after the declaration of the State of Emergency and the mobilisation of the security personnel in the district against the Maoists' terrorist acts.

The peresence of the security personnel and their actions against any act of terrorism have caused the gradual decrease in such incidences.

"When the government mobilised all the security forces against the Maoist terrorists, the villagers feel secured and started their everyday activities without any hesitation." said Rudra Bahadur Thapa, a hotel bussinessman of the district headquarters.

"The conditions of ensuring peace looks satisfying and the declaration of the State of Emergency has not affected us in any way," said Krishna Thakuri, a Haat Baazar trader and added that "This is the country of Lord Buddha so anybody out there should not participate in a violence."

"We have mobilised all of the security personel of the entire district to curb any act of the Maoists," said the central district officer Ganga Prasad Luitel.

"The patrolling team has arrested the suspicious persons and they are being interrogated and to protect the common citizens. This has made the security situation even strong," said Luitel.

The administration has been imposing curfew in the district headquarters from 6 P.M. to 5 A.M. next morning since the last 15 days to foil any act of terrorism.

Quality education stressed

Butwal, Dec. 13 (RSS): His Majesty the King, in a message on the occasion of the golden jubilee of Butwal Secondary School today, expressed best wishes that Butwal Secondary School, which has been providing its services for the educational development of the Western Development Region since a long time, will be successful in producing patriotic youths in future also by means of quality education while keeping the national interest in mind.

His Majesty has expressed happiness that Butwal Secondary School established in Rupandehi district of the Western Development Region had completed 50 years and was celebrating its golden jubilee.

Similarly, in his message on the occasion, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba stated that it is a matter of pride for any institution to be celebrating its golden jubilee, and pointed out the need for an educational institution like the school to create an environment for quality education as per the demand of the times, by reviewing past achievements.

Minister for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyay has said that educational development has been stagnant because of the lack of direct participation of parents in the educational sector in the past.

Upadhyaya, who was inaugurating the golden jubilee of Butwal Secondary School here today, said education that can face challenges is the need of the day.

It is a matter of grave concern that achievements made have not been up to the expectations of the nation, he said and stressed the need for good management and equity in education.

Minister Upadhyay said management has been made easier to facilitate dialogue between parents and teachers as per the norms of decentralisation envisaged by the Education Seventh Amendment Bill.

MP Surya Prasad Pradhan called for cooperation from the government for the 10+2 programme to be run by Butwal Secondary School.

Butwal Mayor Bhoj Prasad Shrestha called for sustainability of local bodies.

Ex-MP Babu Ram Rana called for quality education.

Rupandehi district education officer Bishnu Prasad Sharma expressed happiness over the services rendered by the school.

On the occasion Minister Upadhya gave away commnendation letters and medals to various persons contributing to the school and released the school souvenir publication 'Adarsha'.

At the function presided over by chairman of the School Management Committee Om Shankar Shrestha, various other speakers including CDO Sthaneswor Devkota, senior journalist Surya Lal, golden jubilee committee coordinator Rameswor Prasad Shrestha, ex-student Tek Bahadur Thapa and FNJ Rupandehi secretary Suman Adhikari also expressed their views.

Mid-term review of projects in watershed areas

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): A mid-term evaluation of the Bagmati Integrated Watershed Management Project run in various watershed areas of Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Kavrepalanchowk, Makawanpur and Sindhuli districts has been completed jointly by HMG and the European Community.

During the evaluation, Graham Garrod, Fredrik Prins and Renate Kuchenreuther of the Symonds Group despatched by the European Community, and Kapil Chitrakar and Rajendra Kafle of the Forest and Soil Conservation Ministry and Bharat Pudasaini of the Department of Soil and Watershed Conservation carried out a study of the programmes run in the watershed sector.

At a meeting organised at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation under the chairmanship of secretary at the Ministry Chandi Prasad Shrestha, team leader Garrod said the project gained momentum last year although it had a very slow beginning in1998.

He expressed satisfaction over the programmes in the lower regions and called attention to the prevention of soil erosion rather than control, to the need for making government and non-government bodies stronger and to giving savings and credit programmes more sustainability.

On the occasion secretary Shrestha referred to the important contribution from the project and pointed out the need to extend its term in order to increase the living standard of the impoverished besides promoting soil and watershed conservation.

Advisor of the European commission to Nepal Chris Towed said that efforts will be made to forward the process for extending the term of the project.

Explosion kills six in Tulsipur

Tulsipur, Dec. 13 (RSS): Six members of one family were killed when a bomb exploded at a house at Tulsipur Municipality-11 at 11:30 last night, according to police.

Those killed in the incident are 23-year-old Kamala Chaudhari, six-year-old Ram Kumari Chaudhari, 19-year-old Rita Chaudhari, 75-year-old Champa Chaudhari, seven-year-old Chandu Chaudhari and an unidentified person.

The house has been ripped apart by the explosion.

MA classes in journalism from Jan 2002

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): Kantipur city college, an affiliate of Purbanchal University, is starting post-graduate classes in Journalism and Mass Communications from this year.

It was disclosed at a press conference organised today that 40 students will be included in the programme in its first phase.

Chief of the College's Journalism and Mass Communications Department Ram Krishna Regmi gave the information that the curriculum for the post-graduate programme launched with the objective of producing high level manpower in journalism focuses on editing, investigative journalism and communications management.

He said an extra subject of 100 full marks which can be chosen by a graduate in any discipline has also been offered as part of the journalism post-graduate course.

The total tuition fee for the entire programme divided into four semesters is about Rs 150,000 per student.

It was also disclosed that classes will start from January, 2002.

TU results

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): Tribhuvan University’s Institute of Engineering has published the results of the diploma level civil engineering first year, second part regular and re-examinations held in Bhadau.

Portfolio

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta will, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, handle the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry in the absence of Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Mahesh Acharya, who left here today for Thimpu, Bhutan, to hand over Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's invitation letter to the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Royal Bhutanese government inviting him to the 11th summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to be held in Kathmandu and for holding consultations in this connection.

This is stated in a notice issued today by the Principal Press Secretariat of His Majesty the King.

HM expresses deep sorrow

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS) His Majesty the King has expressed shock to learn of the cowardly act of terrorism on the Sansad Bhawan, the seat of parliament of the Republic of India.

In a message to President of the Republic of India K.R. Narayanan, His Majesty said Nepal strongly condemns such heinous crimes and expressed belief that all countries must work together in combating and eliminating terrorism from the world.

"The government and people of Nepal, join us in conveying to your excellency and, through you, to the government and people of India that Nepal stands by India in her fight against terrorism", His Majesty added.

Deuba condemn act of terrorism

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS) Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has expressed deep shock at news of the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament today

In a message to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deuba said His Majesty's Government strongly condemns the act of terrorism aganist a vital institution of democracy.

Nepal, which is itself a victim of terrorism, understands the cruelty of this heinous act, Prime Minister Deuba further said adding, this terrorist act on the Indian Parliament and other such crimes perpetrated by terrorists elsewhere in the world reinforce our conviction that there is an urgent need for closer cooperation among all to eliminate this menance from the world.

Royal assent to Bill

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): His Majesty the King has given assent to the bill designed for the establishment of the Parliament Secretariat and the Constitution and Management of the Parliament Service--2001 passed by both Houses of Parliament and submitted to His Majesty for Royal assent, according to the Parliament Secretariat.

NTV news in internet

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): Nepal Television is to go on the internet from now onward.

Nepal Television 8:00 PM Nepali news and 10:00 PM English news will be available in the Nepalnews.com portal every day.

News bulletins will be available in real format and other formats will be added in the future.

Similarly, users of 28 kv or 56 kv modem will also be able to see the news bulletins on the internet.

Arrangements have also been made to make available main news record portions of daily news in NTV internet online.

The news will also be seen through the internet globally where Nepal Television is yet to be accessed as two high end servers in the USA and two high end servers in Nepal have been arranged to run the services.

Agreement has been reached between Nepal Television and Mercantile Communication Pvt Ltd to run the internet services.

Finnish grant for mapping project agreed

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): The government of Finland has agreed to provide a grant assistance of Finnish Mark 5,960, 320 (approximately Rs 67 million) to His Majesty’s Government for the production of database for digital maps and production of orthophotos in relation to the census 2001 mapping project for housing and population.

The project is aimed at assisting in producing the required census planning and enumeration area line-maps for the census 2001 covering the all the populated areas of Nepal including the zonal, district, village development committee and municipal areas and digital database and orthophoto maps for post-enumeration mapping in Geographical Information System (GIS). The mapping component will further contribute to strengthen digital map production capability in the survey department.

The project will also strengthen dital mapping capacity and lay the foundation for the establishment of multi-purpose digital database in Nepal.

The long term objective of the project is to enable His Majesty’s Government of Nepal in maintaining accurate and appropriate knowledge of the demographic and socio-economic profile of the country to support the formulation of development policies at the central and local levels.

An agreement to this effect was signed and exchanged between His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the government of Finland at the Ministry of Finance today.

Madhav Prasad Ghimire, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Asko Lukkainen, Charge d’Affaires of Finland signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.

His Majesty’s Government has expressed its sincere appreciation and thanks to the government of Finland for its continued interest and support in the socio-economic development of Nepal.

SAARC Summit preparations in final stages, says PM

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today held discussions with leaders of all the political parties on making the forthcoming eleventh SAARC Summit a grand success.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Deuba disclosed that all preparatory physical works necessary for the Eleventh SAARC Summit to be held in Kathmandu from January 4-6, 2002 are in the final stages of their completion.

The Prime Minister also called on the political parties to come up with recommendations on the main agenda that Nepal needs to raise at the summit meeting.

The forthcoming SAARC Summit meeting, being held after a gap of three years, keeps a special significance, he said, adding that Nepal will direct its efforts towards reinvigorating the SAARC dynamism and push ahead effective programmes in the areas of cooperation for making the impending eleventh summit fruitful in achieving its objectives.

Speaking on the main topics of importance to be raised at the Eleventh SAARC Summit, the Prime Minister said that discussions will be held on topics such as giving momentum to the SAARC process which has remained stalled for the last three years and making it result-oriented, fixing a timeframe for moving SAFTA ahead and expressing political commitment to that end, effectively moving ahead the poverty alleviation works carried out in the past under SAARC and making the regional body more effective.

All-Party Meet

Likewise, Prime Minister Deuba said that as the development of the social sector is an important issue for the SAARC countries, discussions will be held as to the specific objectives and programmes needed to achieve this objective and on the effective implementation of the regional convention on suppression of terrorism for effective measures against terrorism in view of the increasing threat of terrorism in South Asia as well as in the outside world.

Preparations are being made for signing separate conventions on prevention of women trafficking and on child welfare, he added.

As the success of SAARC hinges on the active help and support of the people of this region, there can be no divided opinions that the private sector, civic society and participation of the general public can have a crucial role to play in regional cooperative programmes, he said, adding the 11th SAARC Summit will further deepen this process and make it more fruitful.

Deuba also urged for cooperation of all political parties for the full success of the summit since this is an issue of prestige and dignity of the country.

Different political party leaders spoke of the need of cooperation of all to make the SAARC Summit successful and more result-oriented.

Speaking of the need to ensure goodwill and understanding among the South Asian nations and further strengthen regional cooperation, they said the 11th SAARC Summit should be viewed with importance since Nepal is going to chair the regional body after the summit.

Present on the occasion were former prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, general secretary Sushil Koirala, and central member Ram Chandra Paudel and Arjun Narsingh KC on behalf of the Congress party, CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal on behalf of the UML, RPP chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa and Hari Bahadur Basnet on behalf of RPP, NSP president Gajendra Narayan Singh and central member Shyam Sunder Gupta on behalf of NSP, NWPP president Narayan Man Bijukchhe, president of the National People's Front Chitra Bahadur KC, UPF's Lilamani Pokhrel and CPN (ML)'s Radha Krishna Mainali and Hiranyalal Shrestha.

Similarly, Minister for Physical Planning and Works Chiranjivi Wagle, Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh were also present at the meeting.

The acting foreign secretary and other officials of the Foreign Ministry were also present.

Acharya invites Bhutan PM to SAARC meet

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 (RSS): Mahesh Acharya, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives and special envoy of the Prime Minister, handed over the letter of invitation from Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, Prime Minister, Royal Government of Bhutan, in Thimpu this afternoon to attend the Eleventh SAARC Summit to be held in Kathmandu in January 2002.

During the meeting the Prime Minister of Bhutan expressed gratitude for the invitation and hoped that under the leadership of Prime Minister Deuba, the SAARC Summit would be a great success.

He fully agreed on the need for SAARC to be more result oriented and focused on issues of regional cooperation that hold prospect for tangible benefits to all member states.

He also lauded that the issue of poverty alleviation was given priority as it deserved and assured Bhutan's fullest cooperation to search for an effective way out to address this issue.

Earlier, the minister paid a courtesy call on Lyonpo Jigmi Y. Thinley, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Royal Government of Bhutan at the latter's office.

During the courtesy call, Acharya briefed the Foreign Minister of Bhutan on the preparatory works, both logistics and documentations being undertaken by Nepal for the Eleventh SAARC Summit.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Royal Government of Bhutan expressed happiness over the convening of the SAARC Summit and assured his government’s full support to it.

Both the ministers agreed on the need to revitalise SAARC and deepen regional economic cooperation for the benefit to the peoples of the region.

Minister Acharya arrived Thimpu this afternoon.