Nepali team off to Durban

Kathmandu, Apr. 23 (RSS): Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh is leaving for Durban, South Africa tomorrow to participate in the14th Minsiterial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non Aligned Movement.

The 14th ministerial meeting is to make preparations for the XIII summit of the non-aligned movement to be held in Amman, Jordan, on July 17-l8, 2002.

This meeting will also review the progress made on the issues after the12th NAM summit held in Durban in1998 and finalize the agenda for the forthcoming13th summit meeting.

Minister of State Singh will lead the Nepalese delegation to the 14th ministerial meeting of the coordinating bureau of the non-aligned movement.

Other members of the delegation are Murari Raj Sharma, Royal Nepalese Permanent Representative to the UN, and other high ranking officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Acharya calls on Russian Dy Minister

Kathmandu, Apr. 23 (RSS): Acting foreign secretary Madhu Raman Acharya called on first deputy foreign minister of the Russian Federation V.I. Trudnikov at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Fedetration in Moscow today. Bilateral, regional and international issues were discussed during the meeting.

Earlier, the meeting of the bilateral consulation mechanism between the foreign ministries of the two countries was held at the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation in Moscow.

The Nepalese delegation was led by acting foreign secretary Acharya while the Russian side was led by deputy foreign minister Alexander P. Losyukov.

The talks covered all aspects of bilateral relations between the two countries including promotion of trade, investment, tourism and cultural and scientific cooperation as well as cooperation in the field of education. Cooperation in combating terrorism was also discussed during the meeting.

The Russian deputy foreign minister reiterated Russia’s firm and unequivocal support for the efforts of His Majesty’s Government in the fight against terrorism in the country.

Royal Nepalese Ambassador to the Russian Federation Lila Prasad Sharma was present on both occasions.

The other members of Nepalese side were under-secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Prahlad Prasai and first secretary at the Royal Nepalese Embassy in Moscow Ganesh Prasad Dhakal.

Task force for technology study institute

Kathmandu, Apr. 23 (RSS): His Majesty’s Government has constituted a nine member technology study institute task force under the chairmanship of National Planning Commission ( NPC) member Dr. Rameshananda Vaidya.

The members of the task force are Prof. Dr. Prem Raj Pant, Rector, TU; Dr. Arjoo Deuba, psychologist and social worker; Prof. Dr. Chhabi Lal Gajurel, T.U; Prof. Dr. Jagannath Shrestha, Institute of Engineering; and Rana Bahadur Rawal, expert, bio- technology. Atma Ram Ghimire, executive director, National Information Technology Centre is the member secretary of the force.

The task force is expected to submit a report on the place, framework, organisation and structure of the proposed institute by making an extensive study at the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry will on the basis of the report move ahead with the work of establishing the technology institute by submitting a proposal to the Council of Ministers in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Sports.

Rally in Nuwakot against violence

Nuwakot. Apr. 23 (RSS): A peace procession was organised from Batar Bazar, headquarters of Nuwakot district, to Kolani Trishuli today with the aim of freeing society from violence, killings, terror and insecurity.

Participating in the procession were thousands of people including local political workers, women, social workers, intellectuals, teachers, employees and journalists.

Meanwhile, Most speakers at an interaction programme on political crisis in Nepal organised by the foundation of Nepalese in America (AFNA) and the alliance for democracy and human rights stressed the need to keep the door for dialogue open as violence will not resolve the problem.

AFNA America chairman Dr. Kamal Pandey said Nepalese in America were concened over developments in Nepal.

Former attorney general Sarbayga Ratna Tuladhar, Dr. Prakriti Shumsher Rana, and Dr. Govinda Sharma also spoke on the occasion.

From the chair AFNA Nepal chairman Rabi Charan Shrestha said his organisation was ready to act as convenor for talks.

Peace rally organised in Chitwan

Chitawan, Apr. 23 (RSS): On the occasion of Hindu Unity Day, a religious programme and peace rally was organized at Ratnagar today.

The peace rally which started from Shivalaya of Ratnanagar had gone around the local bazaar and turned into a mass meeting after reaching Harihar Temple.

At the function chaired by president of Chitawan District World Hindu Federation (WHF) Nanda Prasad Bhattarai, vice-president Harisharan Pathak, chairman of Krishna Pranami Temple Tilak Raj Sharma, president of Harihar Temple Biajaya Raj Poudel, Sudarshan Adhikari of Ram Mandir trust, president of the Ratnanagar WHF committee Thanseswore Chalise, social worker Bodhraj Oli and others stressed the need for all Hindus to continue their religious traditions in order to maintain unity among the Hindus.