‘Boost export to cut trade deficit’

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today said the private sector has to play a pro-active role to increae the country’s export trade and reduce deficit.

"The private sector needs to brace for the expansion of trade and industry sector to fare better in the context of the globalised competitive business environment," Premier Deuba told the 32nd anniversary of the Trade Promotion Centre (TPC) here this evening. "You take initiatives; the government is committed to facilitate your ventures," he appealed to the traders and industrialists.

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Purna Bahadur Khadka stressed on the need to reduce the cost of production and improve the quality of exportable items to compete with other exporters in the international market. "Otherwise, there is a possibility of facing problems after the country becomes a member of the World Trade Organisation." Nepal is already in the process of getting WTO membership.

Minister Khadka said the TPC should develop a concrete and long-term strategy to promote country’s trade and intensify its efforts to diversify the market for the exportable items.

"The government is fully committed to expand trade and industry sector and it will make sure that there won’t be any hassles and obstacles to business promotion ventures," said Khadka. "The government will be unable to achieve its aim if the traders and industrialists fail to avail of the rights and opportunities they have been offered."

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has recently announced various measures to manage business ventures more efficiently and effectively.

Assistant Minister for Industry, Commercel and Supplies Prakash Bahadur Gurung said the country needs to focus its attention on industrialisation in order to reduce imports. He said the TPC had to work efficiently to assist the exporters.

The Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Bhanu Prasad Acharya said the TPC should come up with innovative trade promotion approaches to meet the demands of the competitive market.

President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce of Industry Rabin Bhakta Shrestha lauded the government’s procedural measures to facilitate business activities and said the TPC should work more efficiently to consolidate Nepal’s business capabilities before it enters the WTO.

He conceded that the private sector had to be more competitive and also appealed to the government to announce extra incentives to attract more foreign investment in the country.

In his welcome address, TPC’s Executive Director Dev Bahadur Rokaya said the TPC has to be developed into a more independent institution with adequate resource to meet the requirements of the competitive time.

Nepal gets ADB assistance for governance

Katthmandu, Dec 14 (RSS): Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to extend a loan assistance of US $ 30 million (aproximately Rs. 2284.5 million) to the Kingdom of Nepal to implement the governance reform programme.

The overall objective of the program is to establish a civil service that is more result and people-oriented, gender sensitive, and thoroughly professional, which would contribute towards achieving higher economic growth and reducing poverty.

The key areas of the program includes development of an internal capacity for leading reforms, program for improving the overall efficiency of the civil service, improving governance and reducing corruption, enhancing the overall competence of civil servants and establihing processes for improving performance of some key ministries (Agriculture, Education and Health).

The Ministry of General Administration will be the focal point to implement the governance reform program.

A loan agreement to this effect was signed at the Ministry of Finance yesterday by Finance Secretary Dr. Bimal Prasad Koirala and Dr. Richard Vokes, resident ADB representative on behalf of their respective institutions.

His Majesty’s Government has expressed its sincere appreciation and thanks to the Asian Development Bank for the assistance and its keen interest in Nepal’s overall development endeavour.

No threat from emergency: Thapa

Kathmandu, Dec.14 (RSS): RPP president and former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa has said since the state of emergency has been declared in the country in keeping with constitutional provisions, there is no threat from it.

But since emergency may take some time, our attempts should be aimed at ending it as early as possible, he added.

Thapa, who was speaking at a face to face programme organised by the Reporters Club here today, observed that the army action against the Maoist terrorists have been successful and the army will not fail in their effort.

Stating that the army will come back to barracks once the Maoist terrorists are defeated, the RPP chief demanded that the government should work out social and political programmes taking advantage of the state of emergency and implement them honestly.

A broad-based national consensus should be crafted for the larger interests of the nation and the people and his party has initiated discussions with all political parties for this, he said, disclosing that he had held talks with congress chief Girija Prasad Koirala a few days ago and the congress and the RPP have almost converged on points of consensus.

Noting that the spree of violence, murder and terror perpetrated by the Maoists prompted the state of emergency and all blames go to them, Thapa made it clear that if they really want talks, they first should lay down their arms and a democratic government will never close the door for talks.

Govt, ILO sign deal on ex-Kamaiyas

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec 14: His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the International Labour Organization (ILO) signed an agreement today for implementation of ILO’s IPEC DECL Project entitled ‘Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labour in Nepal.’

The three year project aims at creating an enabling environment and providing support to ex – Kamaiyas (bonded labour) for their sustainable rehabilitation.

The project contribute to the long –term rehabilitation of bonded adult and child labourers, preventing them from re-entering into bondage and other forms of exploitative labour in free known Kamaiyas districts in the mid and far west Terai and three other adjoining districts.

The project will create an environment to transform former Kamaiyas into free agricultural wage workers by implementing various labour standards in the sector, according to ILO office here.

The project is funded by the United States Department of Labour (US DoL) and capitalizes on the supportive conditions created by the administrative decision of July 17 2000 of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal on prohibiting the practice of Kamaiya system and cancelling all hitherto incurred debts under the system.

The project will directly benefit approximately 14,000 bonded families of which 8000 were completely landless or homeless. These families have approximately 16000 formerly bonded children in five Kamaiya prone districts that will also be direct beneficiaries of this project, according to the ILO press release.

The project will also investigate the prevalence of the Kamaiya system in three other adjoining districts and support for their rehabilitation and re-integration within local communities.

The project will be implemented by several national and local governmental and non- governmental agencies. These include various departments of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal, workers, employees’ organizations, and NGOs. It will receive technical support from ILO’s InFocus Programme on promoting the Declaration, its international Programme on the Elimination of Child labour as well as other ILO units and administrative and strategic support from the ILO Area Nepal.

The project builds upon the achievements of other earlier and on-going ILO Projects in Nepal, including IPEC projects funded by the ‘Italian Social Partners Initiative’ and the Italian Government, aimed specifically at eliminating child bonded labour. Even though the ILO’s interventions so far have been concentrated in relatively small areas they have already resulted in a significant impact on the lives of bonded families. The project will complement to other major future projects forkl the elimination of child labour in Nepal. Notably, the Time Bound Programme (TBP) for the elimination of worst forms of child labour in Nepal. It will also work closely with other donor supported projects like the ADB-JFPA project, GTZ, and UN agencies like JFAD, WFP and UNICEF who have similar programmes in the region.

The project will promote awareness raising campaigns among former bonded labours, their landlords, local farm employers and the society at large. It will also collect data, conduct research follow-up on results and progress and indentify policy and programme measures that ensure long-term sustainability. Awareness raising capaigns and the application of labour standards and workers’ education progerammes will reach a larger group of adult and child labaourers within and beyond the eight target districts. The project through supporting an impoverished and disadvantaged group and preventing child bonded labour is thus expected to contribute significantly in the HMG/N priority areas of poverty education, social justice and employment expansion.

Stronger measures can be taken to disarm Maoists: PM

By Lok Deep Thapa

Kathmandu, Dec. 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba warned that stronger measures could be taken against the Maoists if they did not fully disarm themselves and returned all the arms and cash and kind they have looted so far. In a meeting with editors and publishers of the daily newspapers on Friday evening, the Prime Minister also pointed out that the present emergency measures of the government were aimed mainly at the Maoists terrorists, and not the people in general.

However, he also pointed out that the government could introduce a decree to ensure that the present spirit of the state of emergency would be fully implemented, including for the media sector.

The Prime Minister explained that basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution had been curtailed, but still, he would ensure that there was no misuse of the tough laws that empowered the government to take harsh steps that could inconvenience the general people in the present situation.

Also, informing the senior journalists present at his office at an impromptu meeting today, that the situation in the country was improving day by day after the state of emergency, Prime Minister Deuba expressed the belief that the campaign against the Maoists terrorists was gaining success. When asked to further elaborate, he confidently told the journalists to look at the situation themselves.

The media people present also queried him about the demand for a Constituent Assembly made by the Maoists, however he flatly stated that he was in no position to comply to such a demand. "I am also a Prime Minister appointed under this Constitution and I cannot and nobody can scrap this Constitution".

Defending the present Constitution, Prime Minister Deuba also challenged how the Maoists could defend such drastic changes in the Constitution. "This is one of the most modern Constitutions of the world and there is plenty of scope for amendments, but no one should be allowed to seek changes through the power of the barrel of the gun".

Meanwhile, replying to queries of the journalists, Prime Minister Deuba also challenged them whether there had been any leader before him who had so much tried to resolve the Maoist problem thorough peaceful talks. "I am a person who can be stretched to the limit, but I will not be broken," he warned.

The Prime Minister yet reassured the media people that he would introduce a programme so that there would not be any confusion in disseminating news to the media. "Such confusion in providing news will be ended," he explained.

Also regarding the talks with the Maoists, Prime Minister Deuba stridently expressed the belief that his government had been "betrayed" by the Maoists and thus they had compelled the government to initiate the present campaign against them.

Queried on this, the Prime Minister explained that his government had not shut the doors on talks for a peaceful resolution of the present conflict, "but the Maoists must disarm themselves and return back all the arms and cash and goods they have looted so far".

As to why a section of the foreign media had been allowed to carry out reports that could be against the spirit of the present state of emergency implemented by the Nepalese government, Prime Minister Deuba replied that His Majesty’s Government would first request the concerned media not to write such items and then only take necessary steps to stop such reports.

Asked whether any changes had been made to the schedule of the eleventh summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that is scheduled to be held here from January 4, 2002, the Prime Minister gave a short reply that everything was on schedule. "Our security is fully in control," he emphasised.

Prime Minister Deuba also reminded the media people about the full support provided by all friendly nations, including India, China, USA and Britain among others regarding the government’s fight against terrorism.

When a journalist questioned how the issues raised by the Maoist terrorists were gaining popularity as reported in some foreign media, Prime Minister Deuba explained that solutions to such problems were sought for in the manifesto of all the political parties that were in the Parliament now. "However, they should be solved through the constitutional process, not through the power of the gun," he reiterated. He strongly emphasised that such problems could be solved through the democratic process, and not through a failed ideology".

Prime Minister Deuba also thanked the media for the immense support extended by them to the government’s effort to curb the Maoists threat and expected similar cooperation from them in the future.

HMG ready to delegate power to local bodies

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 14: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the government is ready to delegate power to the local bodies to boost decentralization campaign in the country through drastic changes and enactment of related laws and regulations.

"You bring the Bill on self-autonomy, I would extend any support to get it approved by the Parliament," Prime Minister Deuba told the representatives of the Kathmandu Metropolitan Corporation at a function organised to mark the 7th anniversary of the KMC here today.

Kathmandu Municipality was declared the Metropolitan City on Mangsir 29, 2052. From this year, the KMC has decided to observe Mahanagar Day to commemorate the declaration of Kathmandu as a Metropolis. Now KMC has 12 departments and 33 branches.

Addressing the function PM said: "Until the local bodies are not strengthened and local bureaucracy is built up, the country cannot develop."

However, local bodies must be accountable and responsible after gaining rights to rule, remarked Deuba.

Saying that the Kathmandu Metropolis is the most civilized city of the Kingdom since the time immemorial, Deuba said that all should contribute to develop it further and beautify it.

This civilised city was nearly shaken by the uncivilised, said Deuba referring to the possible infringement of the terrorists into the capital. "Kathmanduites should also play its role to combat terrorism that has been a threat to the nation."

PM also said that the government was ready to acquire any land to widen the narrow roads, streets and alleys in the capital.

Minister without portfolio Rishikesh Gautam, who is looking after the PM’s office, said that all should contribute to the development of the KMC by not entangled into trivial matters.

Deputy leader of CPN-UML’s Parliamentary Committee K.P. Sharma Oli wished that the KMC would be able to provide pure drinking water to its residents and build a pollution free, clean and green city in the country.

In this regard, the government and civil society should play an important role for the development of the KMC, he added.

Bam Dev Gautam, General Secretary of the CPN-ML said that the leaders who are not devoted to the development should not be elected to the Parliament and local bodies.

Gautam said that all should work hard for building the KMC as the most beautiful city of the country rising above petty partisan interests.

KMC Mayor Keshav Sthapit said that KMC has plan, vision and resources to develop it as the real KMC. "But the government should provide us autonomy."

He informed that within six months the KMC was going to construct ten overhead bridges in different parts of the capital in assistance of Japan that would provide Rs 1 billion to the KMC.

He demanded the KMC should be given the right for the management of roads, electricity and waste disposal.

He also informed that they have received an assistance proposal of Rs 14 billion from Japan to clean up the Bishnumati River.

Sthapit said that from next year, the KMC would celebrate the KMC Day in a grand manner so as to generate awareness among the Kathmanduites for its development.

KMC Mayor also demanded for a separate flag of the KMC to signify its glory.

Deputy-Mayor of the KMC Bidur Mainali said that the KMC is still facing different problems such as pollution and lack of drinking water, and these have posed as obstacles to develop Kathmandu into a real metropolis.

Mainali also demanded that there should be a separate Act and Regulation for KMC.

One terrorist killed, 56 arrested

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 14: A Maoist terrorist was killed on the spot at Myanglung Bazaar of Tehrathum district in an action of a joint team of security personnel this morning. The terrorist was Bimal Biram. The security team also arrested eight terrorists and seized a socket bomb, documents used by the terrorists and some gold and silver robbed by them.

According to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Defense today, in its retaliation actions against the terrorists, the security team fired at the terrorists as they attacked on it while carrying out a search operation in the area.

In course of its search operation, another joint security team nabbed five terrorists from Chitlang of Makwanpur and six from Raha of Dolpa district today. The Ministry said that necessary investigations have been initiated against them.

Meanwhile, our correspondent adds from Phidim (Panchthar): Security personnel today arrested twenty-six Maoist terrorists with bomb making materials, uniform of police, raincoats, scale and bags.

After the government has beefed up security measures to control the activities of the Maoist terrorists, the number of such terrorists surrendering before the administration is increasing day by day .

According to the Chief District Officer (CDO) Jeevan Prasad Oli, nine Maoist terrorists have surrendered stating that their act was influenced by terrorism. They have assured that they would follow the country’s Constitution and would not involve with such terrorist activities in future.

Those who have surrendered include Devi Prasad Lawati, Priya Prakash Risal, Naveen Lawati and others. All of them are from constituency No. three of Jhapa district.

As part of foiling the terrorist activities, the security personnel raided into the district committee office of All Nepal National Students Union (Revolutionary) and seized illegal publicity materials, documents, membership vouchers, donation bills, etc last night. The security personnel have also recovered five guns at Ward No. 4 of Nagin Village Development Committee of the district.

In Mahendranagar, fifteen terrorists have surrendered to Baitadi district administration pledging to live a ordinary life by abandoning the Maoist terrorist group.

The terrorists surrendering to the district administration includes the president and vice-presidents of the farmers and students associations affiliated to the Maoist terrorists.

Meanwhile five terrorists have been arrested and about 26 others have surrendered in the past few days, according to Dadeldhura district administration.

Likewise, about 30 people including the village level leaders of the Paswan Mukti Morcha have surrendered to Kanchanpur district administration office, it is learnt from the district administration.

Likewise in Hetauda, nineteen of 40 persons being detained on suspicion of being outlawed Maoists from Hetauda Municipality and various VDCs in Makwanpur district have been set free today.

According to Prem Bahadur Gurung, Superintendent of police, some 20 Maoists are under investigation on the charge of being involved in Maoist insurgency.

According to a report received from Makwanpur district administration office, six Maoists belonging to Hatiya, Chhatiban and Sukaura VDCs have surrendered before the District Administration Office.

Gokul Lamsal, teacher at Geeta Dharma Primary School, Shiva Shankar Poudel of Chhatiban VDC-6, Ramchandra Sapkota and Rajendra Prasad Nepal of Hatiya VDC and Buddhi Bahadur Rumba Lama of Sukaura-5 are among those who have abandoned the outlawed CPN-Maoist.

In Mahendranagar, police security personnel, on patrol duty arrested six terrorists and confiscated some arms and ammunition from them during a raid carried out at12 today at the house of Ram Bahadur Chaudhari at Ward No. 5 of Sripur Village Development Committee (VDC) of Kanchanpur district.

The police confiscated a muzzle loader, gun-powder and other ammunition hidden inside the house, Chief District Officer Harihar Sharma said.

In Syangja, the district administration office has clamped a curfew at the district headquarters today for maintaining law and order in the district.

Mandala Gallery opens at National Museum

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 14: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Bal Bahadur KC and Takamichi Okeba, Minister at the Embassy of Japan, today jointly inaugurated the Mandala Gallery of the National Museum amidst a function.

Exhibition equipment installed in the Gallery worth about Rs. 31,709,000 have been provided to the National Museum under the Cultural Grant Aid scheme of the Government of Japan.

Addressing the function, Minister KC commended the Government of Japan for its support for the preservation of icons and images of Lord Buddha.

Talking about the necessity of peace for the entire world, he said that the teachings of Lord Buddha are very relevant at present to restore peace.

He further said that Nepal feels proud of having Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, Mt. Everest, the tallest peak in the world, and rich cultural diversities.

He emphasised the need for the development and promotion of Lumbini as a pilgrimage site for the followers of Buddhism. "We have to express our commitment and start working together to bring in Buddhists from all over the world on the occasion of Lord Buddha’s birth anniversary every year," he said.

Speaking from the chair, Minister of State for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sarbadhan Rai said that Japan has not only contributed significantly to making Nepal known as the birthplace of Lord Buddha but also promoting Buddhism.

Delivering his inaugural speech at the handing-over ceremony, Takamichi Okeba, Minister at the Embassy of Japan, said that Nepal’s abundant cultural heritage is closely linked to the Japanese traditional culture through the inherent stream of history, which permeates both countries’ cultures.

"However, it has become increasingly difficult for many people in Nepal and abroad to have exact knowledge of this magnificent cultural heritage and to appreciate its significance," Okeba said.

He further said that Buddhist Mandala is one of such important cultural heritage falling into oblivion. "Against this background, the Government of Japan has decided to provide exhibition equipment. I believe this cultural grant will go a long way in further enriching the exhibitions of the Buddhist Gallery," he added.

He also said that Nepalese Buddhism is much influenced by tantrism. "To understand this, it is a prerequisite to have a systematic knowledge of Buddhist iconography and symbolism, as well as tantric ritual procedures."

He expressed his belief that the project would open the door for a better understanding of Nepalese Mandala, as well as of Nepalese Buddhism, which constitute great pride of Nepal.

Welcoming the participants, Rehana Banu Syed, Chief of the National Museum, said that the project has contributed to the preservation of the cultural heritage of Nepal.

The panorama model of the Dharmadhatu Mandala, composed of 220 Buddhist deities in black and white drawings, is based on Nispannyogavali (the garland of completed Yogas), a Sanskrit text written in the 12th century, and it is a fine example of art which introduces the Nepali religious culture.