BRIEFS (Spotlight Weekly)

NEPAL HAS SIGNED ON AN AGREEment to eliminate employing child labor in hazardous situations. Secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Transport, D. B. Bhattarai, and Kathmandu-based senior advisor to the International Labor Organization, Ms. Leyla Tegmo Reddy, signed on an agreement on "Toward the Elimination of Worst Form of Child Labor in Nepal" on Thursday. According to the Ministry of Labor and Transport, the two-year program will come into effect from September 15. The details of the program are yet to be made public.

THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK has provided a technical assistance to Nepal government for strengthening its national statistical system, the Bank said. The Central Bureau of Statistics will be the executing agency of this technical assistance (TA) to be implemented in 36 months. The activity under TA will include development of a consolidated national statistics plan (CNSP) that will identify the most critical statistics required to support and monitor government policy formulation and decision Making. The TA will also partially support the implementation of the major sectors of the CNSP by providing advisory services and will help ensure the sustainability of the CNSP by assisting the government, the Bank said.

THE HETAUDA CEMENT FACTORY has closed down due to shortages of limestone and coal , officials at the factory said. The company requires 12,000 metric tonnes of quality limestone annually. The supply of limestone from Krishnabhir which lies between Udaypur and Dhading districts has been disrupted by massive landslides 60 km west of the capital also disrupting vehicular traffic between Kathmandu and Pokhara, the RSS news agency reported. Production will resume within a fortnight after arrangements for alternate supplies are made, the Company said.

SOME 75 PERCENT OF THE TRUCK drivers traveling along long routes in Nepal visit commercial sex workers, a report said. These people as well as male laborers and junior police staff manning the highways are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, said a behavioral surveillance survey report on in the highway routes of Nepal, conducted by New Era, with support from the Family Health International and USAID. Yet another study conducted by Dr. V L Gurubacharya said more than 17 percent of female sex workers in the capital valley were infected with HIV/AIDS. Outreach programs, counseling services and condom promotion programs should be launched to check the spread of HIV/AIDS, said Dr. Gurubacharya.

NEPAL FREIGHT FORWARDERS ASSOCIATION (NFFA) has demanded that the government impose ban on foreign freight forwarders from acquiring license to operate cargo forwarding and logistics business in Nepal. In a press statement issued on Friday, the Association said some foreign companies were engaged in freight forwarding business without obtaining permission from the authorities. A delegation of the Association has apprised Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies R. K. Tamrakar about the issue, the statement said.

THE 14.8 MW MODIKHOLA HYDROpower project has started its power generation from Wednesday on trial basis by linking itself to the national grid. The Rs 2.1 billion project will generate 92.5 million unit of electricity annually. Per unit cost of production of electricity is four cents. Some of the electricity generated by the project will be locally distributed and the power will be brought to the national grid through the 40 km long transmission line.

EVEN AFTER EIGHT MONTHS of hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane that left Kathmandu for New Delhi on the Christmas eve, the number of tourists traveling into Nepal by air hasn"t picked up. According to Kantipur daily, the tourist arrival in the first eight months of this year has declined by nearly 14 percent as compared to the same period last year. This is mainly because of heavy decline in the arrival of Indian tourists by air (nearly 33 percent) over this period whereas that of the tourists from third country has declined only marginally, by less than 2 percent, officials said. A total of 215,000 tourists have visited Nepal between January-August, this year compared to 249,000 tourists visiting during the same period last year.

THE NATIONAL ECONOMY GREW by 6 percent in the last fiscal year 1999-2000, a recent report by the central bank said. According to a report published by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), economic growth was bolstered mainly by improvement in agriculture and marked growth in manufacturing, power and trade sectors. The growth in manufacturing was brought about mainly by better performance in beverages, construction and export industries. The fiscal year 1999/00 has been marked with acceleration in economic growth and a sharp deceleration in inflation rate irrespective of continued high monetary growth. Government expenditure accelerated mainly due to a rise in development expenditure. Higher budgetary deficit was recorded as a consequence of low resource mobilization in comparison to government expenditure, the NRB said.

Exports from Nepal continued to do well, growing by 44.7% to Rs 51.6 billion. But imports have also grown by 22.2% to Rs106.9 billion. Garments continued to sell well while only moderate increases were reported in the export of woolen carpets. The earnings from Pashmina stood at Rs 6.2 billion. The balance of payments in the first 10 months of fiscal year 1999/00 recorded a surplus of Rs13.4 billion, the NRB said.

NEPAL EMERGED WINNER BY bagging 44 medals, including 23 golds, in the first South Asian Wushu championship that concluded here on Friday. A total of 57 participants from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal had participated in the three-day event.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has signed on two optional protocols to the convention on the rights of the child at the United Nation headquarters in New York on Friday, coinciding with the UN millennium summit. According to the Foreign Ministry, the two documents signed are the optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child on the sale of the children, child pornography and child prostitution; and the optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. On the same occasion, Nepal also deposited its instrument of accession to the convention on the safety of the UN and associated personnel.

THE NEPAL STOCK EXCHANGE (NEPSE) index has plunged by 24.65 points last week (Sept. 4-8). While the index on last Monday Was 417.92 points, the closing index touched 395.27 a the close of the trading on Friday. On a group-wise basis, the index for commercial bank declined from 491.54 to 449.51 points last week. While indices for manufacturing, processing and trading groups declined, that for hotel, finance companies and insurance groups went up. A total of 90545 shares worth over Rs 64.9 million during 1078 transactions were traded on the NEPSE trading floor.