Infrastructure key agenda for Xi’s visit

X:/FM Returns

Kathmandu, Oct. 2

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that Nepal had been preparing to discuss about highways, railways, international border points and new world-standard university with China during the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jingping. 

“Although the date of visit has not been finalised, we are in continuous dialogue for the preparations,” he said upon his arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport after participating in the 74^th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. 

He said that the country was preparing for strong economic partnership with China so that both the countries could benefit from each other. “Nepal now adopts the policy of economic partnership and cooperation with its both neighbours, India and China,” said Minister Gyawali. 

According to him, the top level visit from China to Nepal will boost not only the bilateral cooperation and strengthen the relationship but also increase the economic exchange and mutual confidence.

FM Gyawali said that the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), a loose group of 35 Asian countries, had agreed to rethink about increasing the pan-Asian cooperation. 

“Apart from a couple of regional networks like the ASEAN, most of the Asian groupings are weak and have minimal impact on regional and global issues. However, this time the ACD has agreed to find areas of cooperation and take them forward in a leadership of any one member country,” he said. 

He had participated in the informal Ministerial meeting of ACD organised on the sidelines of the UNGA where he stressed on such cooperation. He had also emphasized on concrete activities in order to create tangible results to the people of the region.

FM Gyawali expressed serious concerns over the weakening status of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

“As the chairman of the regional cooperation Nepal organised the informal meeting of the SAARC Foreign ministers. But the meeting witnessed the shadow of the disputes between two member countries,” he said. However, delegations of all member states participated in other deliberations which was a positive gesture, he added. 

In the meeting, Nepal had said that strong cooperation among member states was required to make SAARC vibrant. Highlighting the prospects of the SAARC, FM Gyawali had said that robust cooperation was required for addressing various challenges facing the region, such as poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, climate change and natural disasters. 

FM Gyawali held separate bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Venezuela, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Finland, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Ireland and Mozambique where he talked about enhancing economic cooperation with those countries, investment promotion, technology transfer and enhancing cooperation at multilateral platforms on the issues of mutual interest. 

He also held meetings with the General Secretary of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Vladimir Norov, General Secretary of the UN Antonio Guterres. Nepal established formal bilateral relationship with Ghana on the occasion of the UNGA.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 October 2019. 

Gyawali invites Guterres

Kathmandu, Oct. 1

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali had a meeting with Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres at the latter's office in New York on Monday.

During the meeting, views to further strengthen cooperation between Nepal and the UN were exchanged, said Nepali Mission in New York.

Gyawali appreciated the Secretary-General's reform agenda and reiterated Nepal's commitment to working together with the UN in the areas of peace, development and prosperity.

He extended Prime Minster K P Sharma Oli’s formal invitation to Guterres to participate in the first episode of the Sagarmatha Sambaad to be held in April 2020 in Kathmandu around the theme of climate change.  

FM Gyawali, who is in New York to participate in the 74^th United Nationals General Assembly (UNGA), had also informed the assembly about the government’s decision to convene global dialogue to deliberate on critical issues facing the world, including the climate change.

The Secretary-General commended Nepal for its contributions to the UN peace operations as a troops and police contributing country. He further stated that the UN would continue to support Nepal's development efforts and the process of institution building.

Later in the afternoon, FM Gyawali visited the Consulate General of Nepal in New York.  He advised the Consulate General staff to work hard in promoting Nepal's economic diplomacy with particular focus on trade, investment, technology and tourism linkages.

He also interacted with the representatives of Non-Resident Nepalese Association in the evening.

He underlined the role of NRNs in Nepal's socio-economic development and urged them to contribute in all possible ways to the country's goal of development and prosperity.

FM Gyawali, in his address to the UNGA, highlighted the plight of the vulnerable countries and said that they were hit the hardest by the impact of climate change despite their negligible emissions.

He said that the vulnerable countries are facing the consequences which were not just disproportionate but also unjust and undue.

He expressed Nepal’s abiding trust in multilateralism, adding that ‘only alternative to it is a better, effective, inclusive and responsive multilateralism’.

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

Likewise, addressing the informal Ministerial Meeting of Asia cooperation Dialogue (ACD) on the same day, the Foreign Minister stressed on a pan-Asian cooperation for common benefit saying that the region could benefit immensely from the cooperation.

Upon completion of the visit, FM Gyawali and his delegation are scheduled to leave for Kathmandu on Tuesday.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 2 October 2019. 

State 1 plans to boost per capita income to $1620 in five years

Biratnagar, Oct. 1

State 1 government has announced its first Five-Year Plan with the aim of increasing the per capita income (PCI) by about 53 per cent in the next five years. 

The first long-term plan of the State aims at increasing the per capita income (PCI) its residents to 1,620 US Dollars (Rs. 184,680) by 2023/24. 

Currently, the State has 1,062 dollars (Rs. 121,000) PCI. 

Chief Minister of the State and Chairman of the State Planning Commission (SPC) Sher Dhan Rai unveiled the plan and said that it was the roadmap to create a foundation to achieve the target of ‘Clean, Happy and Prosperous State’ and support the national aspiration of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’. 

“Our country has a tendency to create plans but not to adhere to its policy. But we will act within the framework given by the periodic plan and will not go haywire,” he said. 

Vice-President of the SPC Subodh Raj Pyakurel said that the success of the plan would be determined by the internalisation of the plan by the local levels and State agencies as well as experts and civil society. 

The State Cabinet had approved the periodic plan on September 20 following the approval of the State Planning Commission a couple of days earlier. 

The State government has set a target to increase the Human Development Index of the State to 0.600 from present 0.523 in the same period. 

Member of the State Planning Commission Purna Loksom said that although the State had developed the plan, policy and programme as per the national plan, it had emphasised on leading the State to higher economic growth path. 

"There are 10 indices developed to attain the national motto of 'Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali'. We have expanded it to 12 indices to achieve 'Happy and Prosperous State'," he said. 

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the State is Rs. 550.29 billion (in producers' price). If the government succeeds in increasing the economic activities as per the target of the plan, the GDP would reach Rs. 803.5 billion in the next five years. 

So, it has aimed at achieving 10.4 per cent growth rate which is at 8.7 per cent at present.

The contribution of manufacturing sector will reach 24 per cent from 20 per cent now, and about 200,000 employment opportunities will be created. 

The plan aims at increasing the literacy rate to 99 per cent from 84 per cent and life expectancy to 73 years from 70 years. 

The SPC said that although the plan was approved after a couple of months after the beginning of the current fiscal year, its major policies and programmes were included in the State budget of the current fiscal 2019/20. 

It will soon develop the implementation framework while monitoring will also be made effective.

The first Five-Year Plan is approved 18 months after the formulation of State government. 

The plan targets to construct 2,100 suspension bridges, 25 km railways, 100 km inland waterways, 100 gravity cable cars in the next five years. 

The State has about 14,226 km road network of which about 5,000 km will be blacktopped. Likewise, the access to electricity will be increased to 99.5 per cent from the current 91.4 per cent.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 2 October 2019. With inputs from Navraj Kattel. 

Capital Market is more inclusive and transparent now: Dr. Karki

Kathmandu, Sept. 29

Chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) Dr. Rewat Bahadur Karki has said that he was satisfied with his performance as the chief of the capital market regulator in the country because of his success in transforming the primary market and making the market more inclusive and transparent.

Dr. Karki is retiring from the chair of the SEBON after a month.

“The board has been successful in making Nepali capital market as one of the most transparent markets in South Asia,” he said at an interaction with journalists on Sunday. “With the policy of allotting minimum 10 units of share in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) and information technology enabled application and trading service, it has been more inclusive as well.”

He reduced the minimum number of units needed to apply to 10 from the existing 50 and take the entire IPO system to online which facilitated the people from lower class as well as far flung areas in the country to buy share.

People had to stand in a queue all day long to fill up the form and apply for the IPO and the forms used to be collected in sacks in the past. “People had to stand in the queue even to claim their money, bonus and right shares. About four months would take to clear the transaction and ownership transfer,” he said.

In Dr. Karki’s leadership, the SEBON implemented mandatory DMAT account policy and ASBA system which facilitated the investors to apply from any locations and end the problem of holding money for a long period and losing interest of the applied money.

It barred the companies to announce FPO (Further Public Offering) for the next five years of the first offering and allowed the foreign financial institutions to issue bonds in local currency.

In the secondary market, SEBON made provision of clearing within three days, allowed the investors to observe market depth, added three clearing banks, expanded the secondary market and allowed the investors to involve in the auction of the unsold right shares from outside the Kathmandu Valley.

“SEBON has increased the service areas of merchant bankers along with their capital increment and allowed the share brokers to conduct margin transaction,” said Dr. Karki.

The SEBON became the member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and International Network on Financial Education of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/INFE) and organised the first international conference on financial literacy in collaboration with the latter.

According to Dr. Karki, programmes like awarding the broker license to the subsidiary companies of the banks, establishing provincial offices of the SEBON, establishing two commodity exchanges, formulating Securities Act, and amending securities related rules and bylaws are in the pipeline.

Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 30 September 2019. 

Sinohydro awarded Melamchi project

Kathmandu, Sept. 29

The Melamchi Water Supply Development Board Tuesday awarded the contract of tunnel finishing works of the Melamchi Water Supply Project to Sinohydro, a Chinese contractor that recently concluded the civil engineering tasks at the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project.

The board has signed two agreements to finish the tunnel. There will be another agreement for the construction of the head work in a few days.

Executive Director of the MWSDB Tiresh Khatri and Sinohydro’s representative Wang Hua signed the agreement.

MWSDB has given the responsibility to complete the remaining works of the project after about nine months since the Italian contractor CMC abandoned the project without informing the board and fled the country.

Some months were passed in an effort to persuade the CMC to resume the work at the site while some were spent in estimating the cost of the remaining works, preparing the tender and resolving the issues with the sub-contractors and local vendors who supplied the construction materials and heavy equipment.

According to the board, the contractor should start the work within a month from the signing of the agreement. Since Sinohydro has recently completed the civil works at the Tamakoshi, it has its equipment ready for the work.

Sinohydro should finish the tunnel within a year while the head work should be completed in 15 months.

Headwork construction, tunnel finishing, fitting the ventilation shaft, hydro-mechanical gates and monitoring equipment are yet to be executed. 

The MWSDB – implementing agency of the water transmission part of the project – had terminated the contract with the CMC after the latter failed to respond to the board’s communication efforts.

The national pride project has achieved about 90 per cent progress after 17 years of its implementation. The project is delayed by a decade.

According to the latest timeline prepared by the project, it will not be completed before 2021.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 September 2019. 

Aagam Chhen and Degu Taljeu to be built by Consumer Committees

Kathmandu, Sept. 29

Aagam Chhen Temple in Basantapur Durbar Square and Degu Taleju Temple in Patan Durbar Square will be built by the consumer committees. 

A meeting of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) on Sunday decided to handover the rebuilding responsibility of the two historic monuments to the local consumer committees. 

Although the government had invited Japan to reconstruct the two temples, which were completely destroyed in the devastating 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, the reconstruction body had revised the decision. 

However, the representatives, local community and Japan government had agreed to rebuild the Aagam Chhen by consumer committees. 

The confusion about the reconstruction entity had halted the restoration of the cultural heritage. Chief Executive Officer of the NRA Sushil Gyawali said that it was more important to rebuild the temple safely so it should not be delayed for any technical aspects. 

Lalitpur Metropolitan City had also demanded that the Degu Taleju should be rebuilt by the consumer committee. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 September 2019. 

Press media houses for minimum wages, Baskota asks journos

Kavre, Sept. 29

Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota said on Sunday that the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) should be vigilant on implementation of minimum wages for the journalists as many of them have not yet been able to get it. 


The government has done its duty and now the ball is in the court of the FNJ to implement the minimum wage policy in all media houses, he said while speaking at the FNJ Kavre branch’s building inauguration ceremony and greetings exchange programme here. 


“Putting forth demands to get something is not sufficient. The government has fulfilled the demands of journalists,” he said. “You keep on repeating the term ‘minimum wages for journalists’ but why don’t you monitor the media houses during the Dashain ? Why don’t you follow up whether the decision is being implemented as per its spirit?” he asked the FNJ. 


Minister Baskota said that it was not the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology that paid salaries to the journalists. “The government has implemented the minimum wage policy in  the Gorkhapatra, Nepal Television, Rastriya Samachar Samiti and Radio Nepal.” He said. 


Minister Baskota said that the FNJ should organise sit-in protests at the media houses that do not pay the minimum wages to the journalists, and the government would support such protests. 


He said that the government wanted to bring about some positive changes in journalism sector and had expected to receive cooperation from all sectors of the society. 


“In an effort to sensationalizse the events, some media houses have transmitted wrong messages and information. Therefore, the journalists must comprehend the reality before writing news pieces and should maintain caution while giving headlines to a piece of  news,” he said. 


According to the Minister, the work on Journalists Training Institute would move ahead immediately after the Media Policy gets approval from the parliament. 


“Let us first get the Media Act passed from the parliament then we will decide where to build the institute,” he said, urging the FNJ not to take to the street against every policy of the government every time the latter tries to bring such policies out. 


He also said that it was time to create the structure that was not yet existed, make policy and law, enforce rules of law and create an environment where people can have respect for one another.

“No one can snatch democratic norms and values from us. There is no challenge to democracy and there will not be any,” he said.


Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 September 2019.