Vulnerable countries face unjust and undue consequence of climate change

Kathmandu, Sept. 28

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali on Friday said that the most vulnerable countries were hit hardest by the impacts of climate change despite their negligible emissions.

“Although they have very less emissions, they face the consequences which are not just disproportionate but also unjust and undue,” he said while addressing the 74^th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) ongoing in New York.

Highlighting that Nepal lies in the hotspot of climate change, the Minister said that the Himalayas would see melting away of one third of the glaciers and drying up of fresh water in an unprecedented pace.

He informed the Assembly about the government’s decision to convene a global dialogue, namely, ‘Sagarmatha Dialogue’, to deliberate on critical issues facing the world, including climate change.

Minister Gywali expressed Nepal’s abiding trust in multilateralism, adding that ‘only alternative to it is a better, effective, inclusive and responsive multilateralism’, read a statement issued by Nepali Mission in the New York.

He further added that the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was a ‘display of inclusive multilateralism at its best’.

He stressed the need of similar spirit for implementing global agendas.

Sharing Nepal’s principled positions on peace, security, disarmament, sustainable development, human rights among others, FM Gyawali underlined Nepal’s belief in peaceful settlement of conflicts and disputes through negotiations and dialogues, and without external interferences.

He reiterated that Nepal commitment to universal values of human rights is total. Similarly, touching upon that fact that Nepal has rendered one of the most dedicated, reliable and professional services to UN peacekeeping over the last six decades, the Minister highlighted the importance of safety, security and dignity of peacekeepers as well as predictable, adequate and sustained resources for peace operations.

FM Gyawali further said that building on the historic political transformation, Nepal was now focused on economic agenda to sustain political gains under an overarching national aspiration of 'Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali'.

Stress on Pan-Asian cooperation

Speaking at the informal Ministerial Meeting of Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) organised on the sidelines of the UNGA, Minister Gyawali stressed on a pan-Asian cooperation for common benefit.

“The region could benefit immensely from the use of the local and regional potentials,” he said.

He highlighted the importance of pan-Asian cooperation for common benefit, taking into account the strength of the region in terms of increasing economic growth rates, sound knowledge base, development of modern technology, abundance of natural and human resources, and civilizational and cultural richness.

However, Minister Gyawali maintained that the countries in Asia can be benefitted from the use of these potentials through strong bonds of friendship, cooperation and partnership.

“Concrete activities should be carried out to offer tangible results to the people of Asian region,” he said.

Likewise, on the sidelines, FM Gyawali attended the annual ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 and China.

He also held separate bilateral meetings with Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Oman; Tandi Dorji, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bhutan; and José Pacheco, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique.

During these meetings, various matters of bilateral relations, including more cooperation in both bilateral front as well as multilateral forums, were discussed, read the statement.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 September 2019. 

Buildtech expo in January 2020

Kathmandu, Sept. 28

The Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal (FCAN) said that the Nepal Buildtech Expo 2020 would be organised from 17-19 January next year.

It is organising the event in collaboration with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) and Inno Reg (India). The expo will be held at the Sallaghari Ground in Bhaktapur.

FCAN and Inno signed on an agreement on Friday to collaborate for the event. FCAN’s Senior Vice President Nicolas Pandey and Inno’s Chief Executive Officer Rajnish Prasad Dusmana signed on the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

President of FCAN Rabi Singh said that the expo would be a confluence of national and international construction companies and contractors.

“It will feature the latest technology and techniques in the construction business. The expo is a right platroform for the companies, contractors and customers,” he said.

There will be more than 160 stalls of construction equipment, interior design materials, furniture and other materials and technology related to construction industry in about 70,000 square feet area.

The organisers expected that more than 20,000 people will visit the 3-day expo. 

Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industreis, Nepal Engineers Association, Youth Community for Nepalese Contractors, Society of Nepalese Architectures, Society of Consulting Architectural and Engineering Forms and Rajkot Hardware Manufacturers Association India are the partners of the event. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 September 2019. 

Jobs key to meeting growth targets: WB

Dhulikhel, Sept. 27

Vice-President for the South Asia Region of the World Bank (WB) Hartwig Schafer has said that the government target for the economic growth of 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal year 2019/20 could be met if the country created enough employment.

“Growth target for this year is possible but it is not absolute. It depends on other external factors as well,” he said while talking to journalists in Dhulikhel, Kavre, following his field observation of the housing reconstruction in Panauti Municipality on Friday.

“Economic situation in Nepal can be directly affected by the economic condition in the neighbouring and labour destination countries. It can be subjective to whether the labour demand continues to grow,” he added.

According to Schafer, the country should create enough jobs to engage youth and to lubricate the growth, and the employment should come primarily from the production and private sector.

Therefore, the government should work to increase the access to finance in order to facilitate the entrepreneurs and businesses to take up new initiatives and create more jobs, he said.

Based on the vary principle, the multilateral agency is going to support the government in its flagship ‘Prime Minister Employment Programme (PMEP)’.

The WB is supporting the government to create an overall entrepreneurial system in the country which would be the backbone with required database and execution modalities.

“The PMEP is trying to create a basic system for employment and in the first year of its implementation, it has delivered some good results as well. Besides, we have approved Youth Employment and Transformation Initiative (YETI) project which aims to create job opportunities and improve labour market outcome in the country,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, Country Manger of the WB in Nepal.

The WB has agreed to support 120 million US Dollars for the project that aims at benefitting about 100,000 young people, especially women. Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security will execute the YETI project.

According to the WB, the project will work at the federal, provincial and local levels through an integrated set of demand and supply-side interventions to strengthen employment promotion systems and services and improve job outcomes and livelihoods for young men and women.

Schafer said that the bank was pleased with the partnership with Nepal and satisfied with the progress it made in the implementation of federalism.

“There is no country in the world which had transited from the heavily centralised system to 3-tier federalism in such a short time,” he said and suggested that the government should work on increasing the revenue in order to meet the growing operational as well development demands.

He promised WB support to Nepal in increasing revenue generation.

“Nepal is a prominent leader in hydroelectricity and tourism in South Asia, but it immediately focuses on infrastructure development to harness benefits from these two,” he said.

He said that the announcement of the additional 300 million US Dollars support to Nepal for the housing reconstruction was the testimony of the multilateral donor’s commitment not to abandon Nepal in the middle of the post-quake rebuilding. He also suggested that the reconstruction of the housing, infrastructure and livelihood should go hand in hand.

Chief Executive Officer of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) said that the reconstruction body would provide technical support in the reconstruction of the urban settlements in and around the heritage area.

He also said that half of the 5,000 families that needed relocation had shifted to safer places.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 September 2019. 

ADB projects economic growth at 6.3%

Kathmandu, Sept. 27

 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that Nepal’s economic growth will remain at 6.3 per cent in fiscal year 2019/2020. 

The country’s economy can expand further if the execution of public capital expenditures, including at sub-national levels, improves substantially and private investment remains strong, ADB said in its Nepal Macroeconomic Update released on Friday. 

This estimate is much lower than the government projection of 8.5 per cent for the current fiscal year.

 “Near normal monsoon this fiscal year, efforts to accelerate the implementation of large infrastructure projects, and increase in tourist arrivals will support high growth,” said ADB Country Director for Nepal Mukhtor Khamudkhanov.

According to the bank, the floods in early July damaged paddy saplings in many parts of the country, which could lower agriculture growth compared with FY2018/19 figures. 

The industry sector is expected to expand by 7.9 per cent this year, buoyed by improved electricity supply and efforts to improve investment, including in major infrastructure. 

Similarly, the services sector is likely to grow by 6.9 per cent with the expansion of wholesale and retail trade, financial intermediation, and travel and tourism subsectors.

The update says inflation is projected to rise to 5.5 per cent in FY2019/20 from 4.6 per cent in FY2019, assuming a somewhat smaller harvest, a marked pickup in government expenditures, and a moderate rise in inflation in India, the country’s main supplier of goods and services.

But, the government inflation estimates stand at 6 per cent for the current fiscal. 

Nepal’s fiscal deficit moderated to 5.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY2018/19, down from 6.7 per cent of GDP in FY2017/18 on lower-than-planned capital expenditures. 

Execution of capital expenditures at 75.9 per cent in FY2018/19 was less than that of FY2017/18 at 81.0 per cent.

The multilateral donor said that Nepal increasingly faced the risk of external sector instability due to large trade and current account deficits. 

According to it, the current account deficit moderated to 7.7 per cent of GDP, down from 8.2 per cent in FY2017/18, on implementation delays of large national pride projects and markedly curbed import growth. 

Merchandise export growth exceeded expectations, but with low export base, earnings remained small, widening the merchandise trade deficit by 4.4 per cent. While remittance has shown healthy growth, a substantial rise in the near future is unlikely to offset the rise in the trade deficit, said the ADB. 

“Downside risks to outlook in FY2019/20 center on challenges to the smooth implementation of federalism. Adequate human resources, mainly technical staff, and capacity in the relatively new sub-national governments coupled with necessary legislative frameworks are required for the smooth implementation of federalism,” said the bank.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 September 2019. 

Robust cooperation helps tackle challenges of SAARC: Gyawali

Kathmandu, Sept. 27

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said on Thursday that strong cooperation among member states was required to make SAARC vibrant.

Minister Gyawali made this remark while hosting and chairing the informal meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers on the sidelines of the 74^th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.

Addressing the meeting, he said that the effective cooperation at the regional level would help utilise the strengths of the region for changing socio-economic landscape.

“Robust cooperation is required for addressing various challenges facing the region, such as poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, climate change and natural disasters,” he said in the meeting which was attended by Foreign/External Affairs Ministers as well as other delegates of the SAARC member states.

He also highlighted the potentials and prospects of the South Asian region, said the Nepali Mission in New York in its statement.

During the meeting, the Foreign/External Affairs Ministers reviewed the progress made by SAARC in the past one year and stressed the importance of regional cooperation for enhanced trade, investment, connectivity, tourism and culture as well as security, peace and stability.

Likewise, FM Gyawali addressed the annual Ministerial Meeting of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and focused on various structural and other barriers facing the development path of these countries.

He said that the international community should come forward to assist LDCs by ensuring market access, removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, lifting quantitative restrictions and helping capacity building and technology transfer.

The Minister also attended the annual Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Group of Friends of Mediation under the theme ‘New Technologies for Peace and Mediation as Tools for Inclusion: Celebrating the 10^th Ministerial Meeting and Looking Ahead’ and shared Nepal’s perspective on the role of new technologies in mediation.

He elaborated that mediators should be equipped with the best tools available for averting violent conflicts. He also added that the ever-evolving technology can certainly provide them with innovative solutions.

Similarly, speaking at the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, FM Gyawali reaffirmed Nepal’s commitments to the purposes and principles of NAM.

He underscored that cooperation and coexistence are critical for a constructive world order which can only be achieved if the principles of sovereignty and political independence are upheld in good faith by all.

He held separate bilateral meetings with Helen McEntee, Irish Minister of State for European Affairs, and Vladimir Norov, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of which Nepal is one of the six dialogue partners.

FM Gyawali was scheduled to address the UNGA in the evening on Friday.

Meanwhile, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Minister for Forests and Environment, attended a high-level side-event organized by the newly established Group of Friends of Mountainous Countries of which Nepal is an active member.

Speaking at the meeting, he underlined the urgency of taking collective actions for achieving sustainable mountain development and protecting mountain ecosystems for the good of mountain people as well those billions living downstream.

The Group, which has currently 20 members, is established to promote interests of mountain countries in various UN processes.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 28 September 2019. 

Gyawali emphasises on LLDC's partnership to support development

Kathmandu, Sept. 26

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has said that the Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) should forge effective partnership among themselves and transit partners to increase connectivity in order to support development.

“Infrastructure gap in LLDCs compared to other countries is the highest,” he said while addressing the annual Ministerial Meeting of the LLDCs which was organised at the sidelines of the ongoing 74^th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“So they should give priority to building connectivity, including through durable and effective partnership between and among LLDCs and their transit and development partners,” he added.

The meeting was attended by foreign ministers and other high-level representatives of LLDCs and transit as well as development partners and UN system entities, said the Nepali Mission in New York in a statement.

FM Gyawali also held separate bilateral meetings with his counterparts of Bahrain, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. In the meeting with Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, the two ministers discussed about the labour relations, trade promotion, tourism and investment.

They agreed to expedite the pending agreements and further work closely for more cooperation and collaboration, including through exchanging high-level visits.

Similarly, in the meeting with Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, issues like further strengthening bilateral relations through more cooperation and collaboration, and expediting the finalisation of agreements that are currently in the pipeline were discussed.

The meeting with the Norwegian Minister for International Development Dag Inge Ulstein focused on areas of cooperation, including in investment as well as collaboration at multilateral forums such as the United Nations. They also shared their views on various international issues, particularly climate change, read the statement.  

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health and Population Upendra Yadav attended an event on ‘Innovation, Decentralization and Sustainable Financing: Keys to Unlocking Sustainable Healthcare’. Addressing the meeting, he pointed to the need of effective delivery of public health services.

He said that for the reliable and effective delivery of services, capacity building, better equipment and health infrastructure were instrumental.

 Nepal and Ghana establish bilateral relations

Nepal and Ghana has established formal bilateral relations on Wednesday.

FM Gyawali and his Ghanaian counterpart Ayorkor Botchwey signed a joint communiqué to enter into the formal friendly ties.

With this development, the number of countries Nepal has established diplomatic relations has now reached 168.

The two ministers shared the confidence that the diplomatic ties will help bring the two countries and peoples closer on the bilateral front, while continuing their collaboration at multilateral forums.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 September 2019. 

WB and UN stress on the urgency of road safety

Kathmandu, Sept. 26

World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region Hartwig Schafer and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt underscored the urgency of action on road safety to save lives and boost economic growth.

During their visit to Nepal, Schafer and Todt met with Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth, and senior officials at the Ministry and Road Safety Council.

The meetings deliberated on Nepal’s road safety agenda and important progress being made with the drafting of the Road Safety Bill, formation of the National Road Safety Council, and updating of the Road Safety Action Plan.

 A meeting with civil society organisations was also held with fruitful discussion on bicycle and women’s road safety, said the WB.

“We are encouraged by the commitment of Nepal to address road safety issues,” stated Schafer. “It is important to expedite the enactment of the Road Safety Bill and fully empower the Nepal Road Safety Council, so it is adequately staffed and sustainably financed.”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) global estimates, every year about 1.35 million people lose their lives on the road, and millions more sustain serious injuries that often result in permanent disability.

Nepal has one of the highest rates of road deaths in the region, with roughly 16 road deaths per 100,000 people a year. As per WHO 2015 estimates, road traffic accidents in Nepal also result in an annual cost of 0.8 per cent of GDP.

“The geographic landscape of Nepal makes its challenges special. However, we know the basic foundations that need to be in place to effectively manage road safety everywhere: strong governance, safe infrastructure, good road user behaviour, safe vehicles, and effective post-crash care,” stated Jean Todt. “I encourage Nepal to join and fully implement the key UN road safety conventions, which help countries address the major causes of road crashes through a strong regulatory framework.”

Nepal has pledged its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, including the ambitious target of halving the number of global deaths and injuries caused by road crashes. While Nepal firms up its legislation and institutional frameworks to ensure road safety, implementation will be key to bring to fruition the country’s commitment towards safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems.

“It is only through concrete actions that we will achieve our Sustainable Development Goal of significantly reducing the number of road fatalities. I look forward to our further joint efforts,” added Todt.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 September 2019. 

Festival market starts at Bhrikutimandap

Kathmandu, Sept. 26

Festival Shopping Market has started at  Bhrikutimandap Exhibition Centre.

Former Chief Justice Shushila Karki inaugurated the festival amidst a programme on Thursday.

The market is launched focusing the upcoming great festivals Dashain, Tihar and Chhath.

Karki said that such fairs and exhibitions would make positive impact on the promotion of made in Nepal products. After observing the market, she said that the participation of women in business had been improving. She also urged all Nepalis to use domestic products, promote them and support Nepali producers. 

Organised with the theme ‘Jamboree of offers, this is right time to shopping’, the market features more than 100 stalls of goods of domestic industries, foods, leather products, delicacies, clothes, shoes, handicraft and electronics.

The organiser Event Solution aims at providing easy and reasonable shopping experience under a single roof on the eve of the great festivals.

It said that gifts would be given to the visitors as well as the purchasers while there was a chance to win a motorcycle in a bumper prize

The event is promoted by Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur. It will run till 30 September. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 27 September 2019. 

Asia PFD kicks off in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Sept. 24

Asia Regional Meeting of Policy Forum on Development kicked off in the capital on Tuesday.

The 3-day regional meeting is organised by the European Commission and attended by about 100 policy experts, delegates and civil society representatives from the Asia region.

It will deliberate on European Union (EU)'s regional programmes in Asia, national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as national progress and voluntary national processes, SDGs localisation, enabling environment and tackling climate crisis.

The meeting will also take a closer look at work towards the SDGs in Nepal as well.

Bernadia Tjandradewi, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific, urged the planners to give priority to local actions and make timely decisions.

"About 60 per cent of the development targets are related to local actions. So you need to make bold and timely decision," she said.

She said that the governments should try to create enabling environment in their respective countries. She maintained that not only the developed countries like Japan had enabling environment but also nations like Bhutan had exhibited remarkable progress.

According to her, inclusive development, multi-sectoral approach, concrete plans and positive outlook are the requisite for rapid development of the society.

Tjandradewi said that the EU had been a reliable partner in development.

Peter Frisch, Senior Political Economist of the Development Cooperation Coordination Division at the European External Action Service, said that multilateralism was under strain which demanded collective development efforts.

He emphasized on international cooperation beyond poverty alleviation or the neighbourhood.

He urged the Asian countries to invest in creating human resources.

According to the organiser, the meting aims at engaging participants in commenting on challenges, solutions and overall national progress toward the 2030 agenda. It also has an objective of identifying existing practices and initiatives for implementing the SDGs at the local level, looking at decentralisation.

Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 25 September 2019. 

Maintain transparency at customs: FM Khatiwada

Kathmandu, Sept. 25

Minister for Finance Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada on Wednesday directed the customs officials at the Tribhuvan International Airport Customs Office to maintain fairness, transparency and efficiency in their business.

"Work in a business-friendly way to facilitate the international trade of the country," he directed the customs officials during his inspection of the office.

He said that since the behaviour at the airport officials made the first and long-lasting impressions on the visiting tourists and business people, all the staff members of different offices at the TIA must maintain utmost efficiency and integrity.

TIA is the fourth largest source of customs duty, after Birgunj, Bhairahawa and Biratnagar. About 11 per cent of the import and 24.5 per cent export trade were made through the TIA customs in the fiscal year 2018/19. Items ranging from handicraft to vegetables are being exported via TIA.

FM Dr. Khatiwada noted that the TIA would be crucial for the entry of foreign tourists in the Visit Nepal Year 2020 so there should be an effective collaboration with the Civil Aviation Office at the airport as well.

"Effective cooperation among various agencies working at the airport is the prerequisite for the success of the VNY 2020," he said and directed all concerned agencies to work together in order to make the image of the country better.

He maintained that the challenges of physical infrastructure at the airport would be managed in the partnership with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

To make the movement of goods fast, he directed the customs office to expedite the service process and auction the goods that were confiscated by the office or other unclaimed items so that there would be more rooms for the exporters.

"Give priority to the goods for export, make the inspection process fast and simple, and use your wisdom so that it facilitates Nepali producers," he said.

He pointed towards the need of collaboration among the security agencies, aviation office, customs and immigration to provide fast and reliable services.

Dr. Khatiwada also directed the Ministry of Finance and Department of Customs to manage sufficient human resources at the office in order to facilitate the office to achieve the revenue target for the current fiscal year.

Director General of the DoC Suman Dahal, Administration Division Chief at the MoF Jhakka Prasad Acharya and other high government officials had accompanied the minister during the inspection. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 26 September 2019.