Deuba, Shinawatra discuss bilateral, regional matters

RSS

KATHMANDU, Sept. 2: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba held talks with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of the Kingdom of Thailand over a breakfast at the Royal Thai Government house this morning.

Matters concerning bilateral, regional and international concerns were discussed during the meeting, according to the Royal Nepalese Embassy in Thailand.

Welcoming Prime Minister Deuba, the Thai Prime Minister touched upon the common bonds of culture and tradition between the two kingdoms and asked Nepal to join the Asia Cooperation Dailogue (ACD) established under his keen initiative.

Shinawatra noted that ACD was an effort to forge togetherness among the Asian countries by avoiding unhealthy competition.

He further clarified that ACD was a dialogue process by groups of Asian countries to foster positive thinking and the culture of working together for mutual benefit.

Prime Minister Deuba said that ACD would receive Nepal's support and participation.

Underlining Nepal's strong faith in regional cooperation, Mr. Deuba requested the support of Thailand to provide Nepal full-fledged membership of BIMST-EC.

Shinawarta said that he would support Nepal's desire to join BIMST-EC as a full member.

Currently, Nepal has the status of an observer in BIMST-EC.

Responding to the request made to support Nepal's accession to World Trade Organization (WTO), the Thai Prime Minister said that he would be more than happy to support Nepal in joining the World Trade Body.

Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi of Thailand is taking over the position of the director general of WTO from September, 2002.

Prime Minister Deuba also informed his counterpart in how Nepal was fighting against terrorism perpetrated by the so-called Maoists and thanked the Thai Government for the moral support provided to Nepal in this fight.

The Thai Prime Minister emphasized the paramount Importance of peace and security for economic development of any country and expressed his desire to give a helping hand for peace and prosperity of Nepal in whatever way possible.

He called for cooperation of Nepal for jointly promoting herbal products and tourism between the two Kingdoms.

Replying to the problems of huge deficit of Nepal in bilateral trade and the citizenship question of people of Nepalese origin living in Thailand for a long time, the Thai Prime Minister asserted that both sides should sit together and sort out these problems in the best interest of both the countries.
On the occasion Prime Minister Deuba extended an invitation to Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra to visit Nepal at a time convenient to both side and Mr. Shinawatra accepted the invitation gladly.
Prime Minister Deuba was accompanied by chief secretary Keshab Raj Rajbhandari, Royal Nepalese Ambassador Janak Bahadur Singh. Chief of protocol Bhagirath Basnet and the counsellor at the Royal Nepalese Embassy while the Thai side comprised Mr. Prommin Lertsuridej, Secretary General to the Prime Minister, Mr. Tej Bunnag, permanent-secretary of Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. Vongyut Tiyapaitay, government spokesman and Mr. Watana Muangsook, deputy secretary general to the Prime Minister for political affairs.

Prime Minister Deuba also visited Wat Shaket (Buddhist Temple) and met with Somdet Phra, the head monk and several other monks including Nepalese novices studying Buddhism.
On the occasion the Buddhist monks prayed for peace and prosperity of Nepal.

RNAC seeks Rs. 220m loan to pay debt China Southwest threatens lawsuit

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept. 2: Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) is considering taking loans of Rs. 220 million to pay back its pressing debts, especially to China Southwest Airlines which is all set to file a lawsuit to recover US$ 5 million in dues.

Payment to China Southwest for the jet lease deal is overdue by one and half years. The Chinese airline, through its legal firm, has notified RNAC that it would file a lawsuit if the latter fails to make the payment by January end 2003.

"The loans we are planning to take is meant to pay our debt and not for personal benefits," said RNAC executive chairman Ramagya Chaturbedi today. He rebutted recent reports in some newspapers hinting that the RNAC chief had taken loans for the sake of kickbacks.

A deal had been signed with Nepal Bank Limited for a loan of Rs. 120 million. Similar agreement has been reached with Himalayan Bank for another Rs. 100 million. RNAC has used its Boeing jet as collateral, said Chaturbedi at a press meet today.

Though the RNAC board of governors had authorised the executive chairman to take loans of upto Rs. 450 million, Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank, did not authorise the two banks to sanction the amount sought by RNAC. Deals were, thus, struck for only half the authorised amount as the money flow within RNAC witnessed considerable growth, thus reducing the urgency for more loans.
After China Southwest notified regarding the delayed payment, the RNAC chief said, RNAC had paid US$325,000 as a placating measure. "We do not want to be involved in legal wrangles. Therefore, we want to at least pay back our liabilities and maintain amicable ties with the parties with whom we deal. As our financial position is weak, taking loans was the only option," said Chaturbedi.
After hearing from China Southwest, which is likely to be within the next two weeks, I am going to decide on the loans, said Chaturbedi.

As of today, RNAC's debt stands at more than 2.04 billion rupees. It has taken more than Rs. 1 billion in overdrafts.

In the last one month, the total liability has been slashed by Rs. 10,129,899, said Chaturbedi. During this period, an additional payment of Rs. 606,03,891 was made, apart from the regular payment. These payments were made to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Nepal Oil Corporation, National Insurance Company and the Beijing based AMECO.

AMECO is the company that installed new engines in RNAC's jet at a cost of US$ 4.5 million. A total of $1.2 million remains to be paid to the company. RNAC has been paying the company $112,000 every month.

RNAC has yet to raise more than Rs. 280 million from different domestic and foreign agencies. However, Chaturbedi said that there is possibility of recovering only about Rs. 40 million. RNAC has already written to the Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to help it recover the debts.

Students selected to attend ITU Telecom Asia Forum

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept.2: Two Nepalese students, Ms. Sangya Amayta of the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University and Shailendra Joshi of Kathmandu University, are attending the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom Asia 2002-Youth Forum to be held in Hong Kong in December this year. Both of them are undergraduates in their 3rd year.

The Ministry of Information and Communications today honoured them at a Winners' Ceremony. The students were selected through a competitive process from the universities and academic institutions across each country in the region.

They will have an opportunity to interact with leaders in the industry, meet political leaders from the region as well as the world and build a network of new friends and contracts among the youth from other countries, reads a press statement of the ministry.

The ITU is the intergovernmental organization dedicated to the development of telecommunications worldwide, and has been a specialized agency of the United Nations since 1947. Part of its mission is to improve global access to telecommunications services.

The ITU organizes telecommunication event at a global and regional level on a regular basis. With the aim of identifying and assisting the information and communication technology (ICT)- leaders of tomorrow, the ITU is hosting a Youth Forum, which will bring together young men and women from each of the ITU's member states in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, RSS adds: Felicitating the winners, Minister of State for Information and Technology Hari Narayan Chaudhary expressed happiness over the representation of Nepal in the event and disclosed that the ITU regional office is being re-established in the country.

Also taking part in the ITU telecom event are joint secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications Hari Prasad Nepal and Deputy General Manager of Nepal Telecommunications Corporation Ratna Kaji Tuladhar.

The student participants at the event will spend a week in Hong Kong attending sessions on telecommunications and the opportunities it presents for the Asia Pacific Region.

Students urged to help fairly in upcoming polls

RSS

Kathmandu, Sept. 2: CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal inaugurated the 16th National Conference of All Nepal Free Students Union (ANNFSU) here today.

ANNFSU representatives from all the 75 districts and students' union representatives from 16 countries are taking part in the five-day conference.

In his inaugural speech that was read out by programme manager Himlal Bhattarai, general secretary Nepal said the country has been pushed to a pitiable condition due to the violent and destructive activities carried out by the Maoists and the failure of the Nepali Congress party.

He pointed out the need for immediate declaration of ceasefire on part of the Maoist for the greater interest of the country and people.

Noting that peaceful, free and fair elections could free the country from existing anomalies and aberrations, Nepal urged the students community to help the CPN-UML in the upcoming elections for peace, stability, good governance, reforms and development.

He also urged them to continue the ideological struggle against ultra leftist provocation and remain committed to gearing ahead the educational movement for reforms and changes, for nationality, democracy and public life.

CPN-UML standing committee member Bamdev Gautam said the changes wished by the Nepali people will come through the peaceful and legal path on November 13. Referring to the unification of the CPN-UML and CPN-ML after feeling the necessity for a united communist movement, Gautam urged other communist factions also to join the CPN-UML.

President of Nepal Students' Union Biswa Prakash Sharma, chairperson of All Nepal National Free Students Union(Sixth) Krishna Adhikari and ex-president of ANNFSU Rabindra Adhikari also expressed their views at the inaugural function chaired by the national conference organising committee convenor Rajendra Kumar Rai.

At the function general secretary Nepal released books written by various writers and associations.Mr. Nepal also handed over a cheque for Rs. 150,000 presented by the ANNFSU to ANNFSU leader and former FSU president of Amrit Science College Kumar Gurung, who has been suffering from paralysis since a long time.

Earlier, a rally with musical bands and flags which started from Bagh Bazaar went round various parts of the city before converging into the mass meeting at the open air theatre.

Illegal kidney trade on in the country

By Bhuwaneshor Sharma

KATHMANDU, Sept 2: An affluent Nepali paid Rs. 100,000 for a kidney. The seller was one Bikram Lama, 25, of Sindhupalchowk. His kidney was plucked at Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi two months ago. Himself an agent dealing in kidneys, it was a good excuse to convince rural folks that removing the organ does little harm to the body.

Indra Lama, also from Sindhupalchowk, sold his kidney for Rs. 150,000 to a patient. He had agreed to sell his organ to meet his wife's medical bills. He came into contact with the patient through an agent, Padam Lama.

Doctors, requesting anonymity, claim that there is already a network dealing in commercial buying and selling of kidneys in the country. It has become a lucrative business, with agents renting flats in Delhi and Chennai to cater to the needs of patients.

Padam Lama admitted frankly that he could make kidneys available if patients approached him. He claimed that selling one's kidneys to save someone else's life was no crime.

Trading in kidneys is illegal in Nepal. Under the Organ Transplant Act (OTA) - 2055, kidney transplant should be altruistic, and one must be related by blood to donate a kidney. But relationships are faked on papers. Dr. Rishi Kumar Kafle, senior nephrologist at Health Care Foundation, says that almost all verifications are falsified. "Agents falsify these relations."

Kafle says loopholes in the OTA have only encouraged kidney agents. The act also allows persons other than the immediate family members such as the stepmother, stepfather, father-in-law and mother-in-law to donate kidneys. "The trade is there, but who will control it?" asked Kafle.

According to the OTA, if a donor dies within three months after donating a kidney and the relations prove to be false, those involved in the verification process can be sentenced to life imprisonment with confiscation of property. But no one has so far been indicted under the law. "The country lacks proper monitoring agencies to control such unlawful activities," says Kafle.

Some patients do advertise in the newspapers for kidneys, which the law defines as illegal. The Organ Transplant Coordination Committee (OTCC) can fine the particular newspaper upto Rs. 25,000 for publishing the ad. Here too, no newspaper has ever been penalised.

Although Nepali law has provisions for kidney transplants legally, it has no facility. Doctors have been demanding that the Nepalese government set up the necessary facilities for kidney transplants. Says Dr. Sudha Khakurel, a senior nephrologist at Bir Hospital, "The government should set up such facilities in the country to control the illegal trade in kidneys."

The government estimates Nepal sees 2,500 new patients with kidney failures every year, and they have only two options - either live with dialysis or undergo transplantation. Both are very expensive, beyond the reach of ordinary people. Of them, only five per cent can afford the dialysis treatment or undergo transplantation. Others die due to the lack of treatment or without knowing the cause.
The country has only two renal surgeons and 10 nephrologists, not sufficient manpower to man a separate kidney transplant centre.

Doctors say if the facility were to be available in Nepal, the cost would come down by half. Today it costs about Rs. 1 million to undergo a kidney transplant, and the cost of 'buying' a kidney is extra.
A full-fledged kidney hospital in the country can also attract patients from the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, says Mahesh Nakarmi secretary general, Health Care Foundation-Nepal. "Medical tourism could even be developed here as the climate is very pleasant."