KING GYANENDRA AND QUEEN KOMAL have reached Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the invitation of its president. Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey is accompanying the royal couple. The royal couple had left for UAE after completing their visit to Doha , Qatar .
DIPLOMATS AND EXPERTS have advised the government to form trilateral task force including China and India to proceed with the implementation of the plan to make Nepal a transit point between the two countries. The experts have also called on the concerned authorities to fix time, legal provisions and regulations to facilitate the ‘powerful’ task force. Speaking at an interaction program at the Reporters’ Club on Saturday, former general secretary of SAARC Secretariat Yadav Kanta Silwal said that Nepal needs to have peace and political stability before proceeding with the transit point plan. King Gyanendra, after the Jakarta Summit, had stated that Nepal had put forth its desire to act as transit point between China and India when he held meetings with Indian Prime Minister and Chinese President on the sidelines of the Summit . “Let the plan of transit point not merely be limited to slogan. Let its process begin rapidly,” said Silwal. He added that acting as transit point would also help Nepal in attracting foreign investment. Industrialist and member of Upper House Dr. Roop Jyoti said that Nepal should not lose any time in beginning processes to become transit point. Former ambassador to China Rajeshwore Acharya suggested Nepal to enter into separate transit agreements with India and China to facilitate the process.
SUPREME COURT (SC) HAS termed the action of the government of periodically re-issuing ordinances on the same subject as constitutional. The SC bench comprising judges Dilip Kumar Poudel, Chandra Prasad Parajuli and Min Bahadur Rayamajhi decided that the government could issue ordinances as many times as it requires at a time when there is no parliament. According to the Constitution, the government needs to issue ordinance – which have the lifespan of six months – to frame laws when the parliament is not in existence. In the last couple of years, the governments have issued ordinances periodically to frame laws.
THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEMS in Nepal , on Wednesday (June 15), unveiled the UN Millennium Project report that urges all countries to adopt bold enough poverty reduction development strategies to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets for 2015. The report titled “Investing in Development; A Practical Plan to Achieve the MDGs” also recommends aligning Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) with MDGS to meet the 2015 deadline.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (AI) has called for suspension of international arms supplies and military assistance to Nepal until Kathmandu takes clear steps to halt rights violations and bring those responsible for them to justice. Releasing a report on Wednesday, AI has accused the international arms suppliers including Britain , India , France , South Africa and Belgium , of fueling serious human rights abuses and the Maoist conflict.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS APPROVED new Travel and Trekking Regulations 2005. According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the new regulation displaces the older one introduced at early 1980s. The new regulation aims to smoothen and facilitate the trekking and travel operations. It has simplified the procedures of obtaining licenses. It has introduced new provisions for registering travel and trekking agencies and has also fixed minimum wages for workers who accompany tourists during trekking. The regulation also prohibits any travel agency to operate services of airlines ticketing, or acting as General Sales Agent without first obtaining license.
FOLLOWING THE MAOIST BOMB attack at passenger buses in Madi of Chitwan and Narke of Kavre in which 39 civilians and eight persons (including six security personnel) were killed, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) spokesperson Brigadier General Deepak Gurung has said that it would not take action against any soldier found boarding passenger buses. Meanwhile, the RNA’s Military Court has sentenced two soldiers to ten years of imprisonment. The two soldiers – Indra Narayan Giri and Ratna Thapa - were found to be engaged in raising extortion under the guise of Maoists in Tripureshwore area. At a press meet organized on Tuesday (June 14), Gurung said that Britain has agreed to make non-lethal military assistance available. “The US has already started training,” he said, adding, however, that Indian assistance was yet to be forthcoming. Meanwhile, according to latest RNA data, 4412 Maoists and 468 security men have been killed after the second round of peace talks between the government and Maoists failed in August 2003. A total of 2689 Maoists have surrendered so far.
OWING TO THE REMITTANCES sent by Nepalese working overseas, the total deposit of commercial banks in the first nine months of the current fiscal year has soared by ten percent compared to the same period previous year. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the total deposit in commercial banks have reached to Rs 242.11 billion – up from Rs 219.07 billion in the same period previous year. Likewise, during this period, the loan investment of the banks have increased by 7 percent. According to the data, last year Rs 144.98 were invested in loans – which has increased to Rs 155.85 this year. Of the total loan investment, only Rs 3.23 billion were invested in state-owned enterprises while the rest flowed to private sector. Because of inadequate opportunity for investment, the banks have high liquidity. Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) and Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) lead the list of maximum deposits with Rs 41.06 billion and Rs 34.51 billion respectively.
