Timely Meeting

IF it had not been for its well- wishers Nepal would have a tough time in executing the plans to attain its development goals. Despite having a manageable population of barely 23 million people, this country with a plethora of natural resources has failed to make headway in the development front. We have already come through nearly nine five-year development plans and the tenth one is on the anvil. Still our development indicators are among the most dismal in the world. In this backdrop, assistance in cash or kind from countries abroad is always what Nepal has been in need of. Among the countries that have shown their magnanimity to back Nepal’s development endeavours, Great Britain stands out prominently. Britain is one of the first countries that Nepal established its diplomatic relations with. Hence, it has over the years gone an extra mile to assist Nepal in all quarters of development. To give added impetus to its assistance to Nepal, Britain is hosting an international meeting on Nepal on June 19 and 20 in London. The meeting is obviously the fall out of the UK visit of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba carried out this year. Deuba during his visit had asked British Prime Minister Tony Blair to back Nepal’s fight against the Maoist terrorists and its overall development pursuits.

In response to Prime Minister Deuba’s pleas, Britain has called the meeting, which will have the participation of representatives from Nepal, and from a number of regional and extra-regional governments and international donor agencies. The meeting bears a lot of importance for Nepal as the delegates will discuss how international partners could best co-ordinate assistance to Nepal in addressing the issues surrounding the current violence in the Kingdom. It is the first meeting ever which will discuss elaborately how the international community can best coordinate its efforts in supporting the people of Nepal at a time when they face myriad problems. The meeting will discuss how the international community can assist the government of Nepal to address the problem of terrorism and violence. The discussions will also figure the social and economic reform of Nepal’s composite sector apart from dwelling on the issue of sustainable development. The government should waste no time in thanking Britain for arranging the meeting with the selfless motive of helping it to ameliorate its masses from all forms of social evils.

RA’s Dubai Flights

IT INDEED is good news that Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC), the National Flag Carrier, is all set to resume its flights to Dubai from July 17. Almost a year has gone by since RA suspended its flights to the Mid-east city due to shortage of jets. It definitely is a good move that RNAC is trying to make the optimum utility of the small fleet of planes it has in its bid to serve the passengers as well as promote its business at a time when it is facing a great financial crunch. With only two Boeing 757 jets, the country’s flag bearer, however, will not be able to resume its flights to other suspended destinations in Europe and Singapore. RNAC had to face shortage of aircraft after the leased Boeing 767 of Lauda Air and a Boeing 757 of China South West Airlines flew back last year. RNAC’s resumption of flights to Dubai is expected to be fruitful for the Corporation since there are around 300,000 Nepalese workers in the Middle East and it would be most convenient for them to fly in or out from there. Dubai has become a kind of regional hub for around 50 international airlines that operate flights from there everyday. Moreover, the three flights a week to and from Dubai will also help tourists wanting to come to this Himalayan Kingdom through RNAC flights. As RNAC has no immediate plans of either leasing or buying new planes, it would, at times, be difficult to operate its flights to the added destination, but the Corporation should not miss such destinations which can pull in more tourists to Nepal.

Ever since its establishment some 44 years back, RNAC has been playing an important role for the promotion of tourism and aviation industry in the country. During the 90s, RNAC carried almost half the tourists who traveled to Nepal by air. Apart from its high reliability in domestic flights, the international flights are also regarded to be very much trustworthy and comfortable for the travelers. With the resumed scheduled flights to Dubai, it could be hoped that RNAC will not only help promote Nepal’s tourism industry and serve the passengers but it also will help the corporation itself to be financially strong and fly high.