Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

Crown Prince Paras and Crown Princess Himani observing the Tibetan cultural program

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND FINANCE MINISTER Bharat Mohan Adhikary has left for the United States on Wednesday (September 29) to take part in the annual Board of Governors meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). On the eve of his departure, Adhikary told reporters on Tuesday that he will ask the developed countries to raise their assistance level to 0.7 percent of their GNP as per their earlier commitments. Likewise, he will ask the World Bank and the IMF to include countries like Nepal in the Debt Relief program they are implementing. Adhikary will also meet with the high level officials of the US government during the visit.

BRITAIN’S PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR has announced that the Gurkha soldiers recruited after 1997 will be entitled for British citizenship. The Gurkha soldiers who have completed four years of service in British army are eligible for the citizenship. But those soldiers recruited before 1997 are not eligible for the citizenship. Compiled from reports

THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) HAS welcomed the government’s recent call for peace talks with the Maoists. In a statement issued by Danish Embassy, the EU has urged the Maoists to quickly and positively respond to the government’s call.

PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION of Journalists (IFJ) Christopher Warren has expressed solidarity with the Nepalese journalists and raised grave concern over their deteriorating situation. He also promised to mobilize international support to help Nepalese journalists that have been victimized. He had also met with the Prime Minister and government officials during his stay in Kathmandu. IFJ is an umbrella organization representing about 500,000 journalists from over 100 countries.

OVER THREE DOZEN NEPALESE WORKERS WHO were rescued from several Gulf countries where they were undergoing tremendous sufferings returned home on Wednesday (September 29). Most of the workers had been duped by manpower agents who took them to Iraq, and from there to Syria and Lebanon illegally. The International Migration Organization (IMO) rescued them. Labor Minister Raghuji Panta went to the airport to receive the workers. Panta said that action will be taken against guilty agents.

THE FARMERS’ REPRESENTATIVES AND ACTIVISTS from across Asia gathered in a concluding program of the People’s Caravan 2004 for Food Sovereignty in the capital on Wednesday (September 29) calling for better protection of the rights of the farmers and protesting the anti-poor policies. The rally had started from Malaysia on September 1 and will conclude in Kathmandu on Thursday amid huge rally. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, addressing the gathering, said that the government had introduced 20 year Agriculture Perspective Plan to uplift the conditions of farmers. Over 80 percent of Nepal’s population are engaged in agriculture. Meanwhile, the participants at the program came down hard against the Maoists for attacking the vehicle in which a number of them were traveling on Monday night.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS DECIDED TO RESHUFFLE the portfolios of the secretaries of ministries. According to the decision taken by the cabinet, Chandi Prasad Shrestha is the new Home Secretary while Govinda Pandey is the new Agriculture Secretary. Janak Raj Joshi has been appointed as the Secretary to the Peace Secretariat. Bhoj Raj Ghimire has been transferred as Secretary at the Tourism Ministry. Ananta Raj Pandey is the new Secretary at the Forest Ministry. The cabinet has appointed Bal K Prasai, secretary of the Ministry of Local Development and Mohan Karki as the secretary of the Health Ministry. Tika Dutta Niraula has been transferred to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Tirtha R Sharma to the Water Resources Ministry. Madhav Ghimire is the new Secretary at the Ministry of General Administration, Lava Kumar Devacota at the National Planning Commission and Ram K. Pant at the Public Service Commission.

THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR on Torture and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance (WGEID) will arrive here in December to monitor the alarming human rights situation in the country. They are scheduled to arrive in the first week of December to observe the situation concerning torture and disappearances, Diwakar Pant, national director of the Human Rights Promotion Center under the Prime Minister’s Office, said. The Foreign Ministry had sent an invitation to the UN High Commission for Human Rights following their experts’ request to visit the country, he said. “They have expressed their keen interest on meeting government authorities and concerned departments of the state,” said Pant, stressing that the government is prepared to cooperate with the experts and make its ‘position clear.’ “We welcome the government’s decision to invite the UN experts to Nepal, which will contribute to addressing and not criticizing the country’s problems,” said Sushil Pyakurel, member of the NHRC.

JAPAN BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (JBIC) is going to conduct a detailed study for the implementation of the 122 MW strong Upper Seti hydropower project. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) had conducted a detailed feasibility study of the project in 2001. According to Dr. Janak Lal Karmacharya, managing director of the NEA, the JBIC team made the site inspection on Sunday (October 3). After the NEA pulled out the Kulekhani III from its priority project list, the Upper Seti Project has become its priority. The NEA plans to complete this project by 2011. None of the bigger hydro projects are currently under construction except the 70 MW strong Middle Marsyangdi even though the country will have to experience load-shedding from winter this year.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS INCLUDED the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) in the official delegation of Nepal that attended this year's Annual General Meeting of the World Bank held in Washington DC, USA on October 2-3, 2004. This is the first time that the private sector from Nepal was a part of the official delegation. Binod Kumar Chaudhary, President, CNI and Mr Pawan K. Golyan, Vice-President, CNI represented the Nepalese private sector in the World Bank meeting. During the World Bank meeting, the CNI delegation worked very closely with other members of the Nepalese delegation to provide professional inputs as well as private sector perspectives on issues relating to financial sector reforms as well as global trade issues.