PM stresses justice for shared prosperity

 Kathmandu, Jan. 19

Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Prime Minister of Nepal, said that the Global Financial Architecture must be reformed to enable countries in special situations to secure finance in achieving their development visions and goals.

"To provide development justice to these countries, the developed countries must fulfill their financing commitment without delay," he said at the 19^th Summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) as the leader of Nepali delegation.

The summit was organised in Kampala of Uganda on 19 and 20 January under the theme of “Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence”.

He demanded that the international trade must be just, fair, and inclusive which benefits the bottom billions.

"Globalization, as we believe has not lifted all boats uniformly, rather it has increased income disparities and the concentration of wealth in the hands of few countries," said PM Prachanda, "Global North must understand that it is not only unethical and immoral but is also unsustainable to leave half of humanity excluded from the journey of prosperity."

According to him, the NAM must stress on the economic development and prosperity of its members through the timely achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other internationally agreed development goals.

To overcome the resource deficit, along with North-South and Triangular cooperation, he called for enhancing South-South cooperation as many fellow NAM members have made significant progress both in socio-economic development as well as technological advancement.

Similarly, PM Pradhanda said that the NAM should accord high priority to addressing the institutional and capacity constraints being faced by developing and least developed countries on ‘Science, Technology, and Innovation’, which have become a game changer in today’s world.

He also maintained that the Movement should play a greater role in reforming the United Nations. "Our multilateral institutions should be inclusive, transparent, and democratic to ensure enduring peace and shared prosperity. NAM must take the lead to address common and contemporary challenges we are facing," he said.

Stating that the history of human civilization has abundantly taught that it is only the ‘cooperation’ through which humanity can achieve greater and better, PM Pradhanda said that the NAM itself stands for deepening solidarity, fraternity, and cooperation. We must strive to achieve shared affluence through stronger collaboration among ourselves, he stated.

"Prosperity cannot be the privilege of a few. It must be for everyone and every country. We must create a level playing field within and among the comity of nations so that global affluence will be shared as equitably as possible," said PM Pradhanda.

Meanwhile, he said that the consequences of old and new conflicts have engulfed not only the region but also the entire world, particularly the Global South. This is high time that we find an enduring solution for peace and security through political dialogue and diplomacy with respect and dignity for all, he said.  

He said that though the Movement has continued to struggle for a just, equitable, inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous world order, today's world is full of injustice, inequality, division, discord, and exclusion.

Moreover, protectionism, violent extremism, and war and conflict are on the rise. Likewise, military expenditures and the arms race are soaring.

According to PM Prachanda, as the most representative organization after the United Nations, the Movement must play a defining role in establishing a just, equitable, and prosperous world for security, stability, and prosperity.

Talking about Nepal's policy, he said that the country pursues independent, objective, balanced, and non-aligned foreign policy. "Our foreign policy is based on sovereign equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit, and peaceful settlement of disputes. Principles of non-alignment constitute one of the fundamental tenets of Nepal’s foreign policy," he said.

As a peace-loving nation, he deplored all kinds of conflicts and geo-political rivalries in the world and said that the conflict situation in Ukraine and Gaza is deeply distressing.

"Nepal looks forward to seeing peace and stability in the Middle East with a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized international borders based on relevant United Nations resolutions," he said. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 January 2024.   

Riverside Resort's food certified excellent

 Kathmandu, Jan. 19

Food at Siddharth Riverside Resort along the Prithvi Highway has been certified as 'Excellent'.

The Regional Food Technology and Quality Control Office, Hetaunda, has given the resort a certificate of the highest standard of category 'A'.

The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC), the apex body under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and responsible for the implementation of food laws and regulations, has been classifying the food hygiene level into 4 categories: excellent, good, satisfactory and normal.

Kathmandu and Pokhara are at a distance of 100/100 km from this resort located in the middle of Prithvi Highway.

The first five-star hotel 'Siddharth Villasa' in Bhairawa, the luxury resort 'Siddhartha Vilasa Vanwas' in Sauraha, and around 3 dozen outlets including star hotels, resorts, cottages and cafes of Siddharth Group are in operation in various cities of the country.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 January 2024.   

Nepal, UN reach agreement on sustainable dev priorities

 Kathmandu, Jan. 18

The Government of Nepal and the United Nations in Nepal have agreed on the priorities for the coming year for the four outcomes under the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023-2027.

The agreement was made at the first annual meeting of the Joint Steering Committee of the Nepal UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027 jointly organised by the government and the UN in Nepal in Lalitpur on Thursday.

The four outcome areas are sustainable, resilient, and inclusive economic transformation; inclusive and transformative human development; environment sustainability, climate and disaster resilience; and governance, federalism, participation, and inclusion. 

Nepal had adopted the UNSDCF 2023-2027 in 2023.

The meeting was co-chaired by Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr. Min Bahadur Shrestha, and UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal Hanaa Singer Hamdy.

Speaking at the meeting, the Vice Chairman stated that Nepal looks forward to graduating from the LDC status in 2026 and implementing the 16^th Plan.

"In this context, Nepal seeks scalable, transformative, and impactful support of the UN to create more employment opportunities, boost productivity, and productive capacity, promote sustainable use of natural resources, fortify the data management system for evidence-based policymaking, and enhance access to quality education and health facilities," he said.

"The Joint Steering Committee provides strategic oversight of the development and implementation of the Cooperation Framework, to ensure strong co-ownership and alignment with national priorities as outlined in the upcoming 16^th National Plan and guided by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," read a joint statement issued by the NPC and UN in Nepal.

Likewise, Hamdy stated that the Cooperation Framework is the centrepiece for the implementation of the UN Development System reform at the country level. It articulates how the UN is supporting the people and Government of Nepal in achieving its development goals.

The meeting was attended by government representatives and UN Country Team members. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 January 2024.   

KMC’s Cyber Security Training project receives overwhelming response

Kathmandu, Jan. 18

The Cyber Security Training project announced by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has drawn the tremendous attention of youth and witnessed the fill-out of 1032 forms in 24 hours till Thursday evening while 8,855 people have shown interest in the skill development programme in the past three days.

According to the KMC, this is an overwhelming response to the programme which also exhibited that there was a huge gap in Information and Communication Technology and cyber security.

The metropolis has designed 43 courses on digital technology and cyber security in seven categories such as basics of cyber security, information privacy, programming and networking, cloud networking and data analysis.

The training designed as an open online course has different modules and courses ranging from 16.5 hours for beginners to 100 hours, said Nisarg H. Acharya, Vice-President of EC-Council, a company providing technical and knowledge support to the KMC for the training.

The EC-Council collaborates with its Nepal-based partner, Gap Technologies, to manage the contents as well as the technical side of the training as planned by the KMC.

KMC and its partners said that the training aimed at creating a workforce that would fit the demands of global companies. The trainings are designed for Information Technology literate to university degree holders. The trainees can get certificates after fulfilling the assessment and certification criteria of the courses.

The training will be organised online and will be free of cost. The trainees are required to attend the designated class hours, complete the readings of materials and appear in the assessment exams.

"Our cursory assessment found that many employees working at the government and private sector offices and teachers urgently needed training on cyber security. Although the higher officials are well-trained, the lower-rank employees can be vulnerable points for hackers and other criminals, and cyber security of the company could be compromised," said Shailendra Jha, an Expert Member of the City Planning Council (CPC) of the KMC.

The skill development project aims at producing or developing competing and skilled human resources for companies from various sectors both public and private. Jha said that the project was an initiative to protect people's privacy and protect them as well as companies from cyber-related risks.

The KMC and partners are responding to the need for employed workforce as well as young students, job seekers and returnee migrants who are desperate to equip themselves with better cyber security skills. These skills include identifying spam emails, malware, spyware and misinformation as well as the knowledge of ethical hacking, said Acharya.

"Every job has become digital and needs to be done through the application of information and cyber technology. Adopting these digital initiatives needs better security and skilled workers," he said while adding that individuals are highly vulnerable to cyber-crimes and internet-based risks.

Likewise, Jha said that the training would help youth stay in the country while working in a company anywhere across the globe.

The total cost of the cyber security training project is estimated at Rs. 50 million. Prince Khetan, CEO and Co-Founder of Gap Technologies, said that the training could be a long-term project and expected to raise awareness as well as the skills about cyber security.

This project is a part of the KMC's ambitious pride project on employment which aims at training at least 15,000 people in 34 thematic areas in the next three years as envisioned by its Mayor Balendra Shah, and creating jobs for 5,000 people in a year.

Other areas of training that have been launched are software development, beautician, digital marketing and professional accounting. Other disciplines will be added according to the demand.

"We want to create solutions for both the job providers and job seekers. It will supply full-time and part-time workforce to the companies through the 'Labour Bank'," said Jha.

The government, national and international non-government agencies, private sector companies and other organisations will be provided access to the labour bank where they can choose the human resources that fit into their job demand.

Residents of the KMC or its taxpayers, and Nepali citizens having rental accommodations in Kathmandu Metropolis are the primary target of the training while other Nepalis are considered as the secondary target. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 January 2024.   

Saud stresses deeper cooperation to solve global problems

Kathmandu, Jan. 17

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Narayan Prakash Saud, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal, has expressed concerns over the rise of protectionism and economic nationalism, of late.

Addressing the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) Ministerial Meeting in Kampala, Uganda, on Wednesday, Minister Saud said that while protectionism and economic nationalism were on the rise, urgent call for the reform of global economic and financial systems goes unheard.

"In this intensely globalised and deeply interconnected world, deeper cooperation is essential for finding solutions to global or regional problems we are facing. Yet, promises and commitments made to provide Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the developing countries and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are not fulfilled," said FM Saud.

The NAM Ministerial Meeting is being organised with the theme of “Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence”. It will run till Thursday, January 18.

The Foreign Minister stated that the NAM must play a pivotal role in promoting multilateralism, defending the UN Charter and international law, finding peaceful solutions to disputes, reforming the global financial architectures, creating a just global economic order for shared affluence.

FM Saud suggested that the NAM must assert its collective voice to create an inclusive global order where all countries can prosper together, sharing global affluence equitably.

According to him, the NAM, as a strong block with 120 countries representing around 60 per cent of the world’s population, holds both majority and moral strengths to devise solutions to global problems that we face today- from conflicts to climate change; economic injustice to social inequality; the digital divide to debt distress, and hunger to disease.

"We must advocate for strong collaboration at the global level, while securing collaboration among ourselves for trade, investment, technology transfer, and more," he said and called for support to each other's development aspirations, avoidance of vicious trap of suspicion and rivalry amongst the NAM member countries.

He also said that the NAM should evolve into a dynamic forum to shape a global order to address the interlocking global challenges of our time based on its founding principles.

According to FM Saud, the NAM movement has become a powerful political voice free from the prejudice of the polarity.

 

"We are facing a multitude of crises and challenges. They include the persistent impact of COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, conflicts, soaring food and energy prices, inflation, debt burdens to name but a few," he said while stating that the world is witnessing the worst nightmare in Gaza and has been bearing the brunt of the Ukraine war.

It is perplexing that as per the Global Peace Index, the deaths from global conflict increased by 96 per cent in 2023, and 91 countries are now involved in some form of conflict, said Minister Saud.

He also said that while on one hand, the world is grappling with pandemic, poverty and hunger, but on the other, arms races continue to rise, and so does global military expenditure, on the other hand, human-induced climate catastrophes are creating havoc in the world.

The combined effect of these multiple and intersecting problems has badly impacted developing countries, particularly poor and vulnerable ones, disproportionately, according to him.

He also said that Nepal always conducted independent, objective, balanced, and non-aligned foreign policy, and it never joined any military alliance and never accepted to be a part of the security pact of any country.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 January 2024.   

NRNA hands over blood bus to Koshi

Kathmandu, Jan. 17

The Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) has handed over a mobile blood bus to the Dharan Red Cross Society of Koshi Province.

 The mobile bus was handed over to the Blood Transfusion Service Center run by the Sunsari District Branch by the NRNA on Wednesday.  

President of the NRNA, Dr. Badri KC, and Chief Minister of Koshi, Kedar Karki, handed the Rs. 7-million bus over to Umesh Thapa, President of Red Cross Society Sunsari, the NRNA informed in a statement.

Speaking on the occasion, CM Karki asked the non-resident Nepalis to cooperate for the prosperity of Koshi Province. He said that there are many possibilities for investment in the province and proposed to work together with the non-resident Nepalis to cooperate in potential areas of investment there.

He said that there should be unity among the Nepalis living abroad and there should be no differences between the Nepalis living in Europe and America and those living in the Middle East.

 Chief Minister Karki said that many women still die due to lack of blood during childbirth at a young age as they are often forced into early marriages. 

Chief Minister Karki thanked the NRN for operating such bus service which made possible to collect and provide blood on the way. He said that the provincial government would operate the bus in all districts of the province.

The bus, equipped with two beds, will reach houses of blood donors with a slogan 'One House, One Blood Donor.

Similarly, NRNA President, Dr. KC, said that the non-resident Nepalis are active in attracting investment in Nepal and their investment is more sustainable.

He said that for the prosperity of Koshi Province, the association was ready to cooperate with the NRNA in the fields of infrastructure.

Vice-president of the NRNA, Dr. Hemraj Sharma informed that the Association has done more than Rs. 1 billion in charity work since its inception. He said that the non-resident Nepalis are active in bringing the knowledge, skills and technology learned abroad into the country.

Dr. Sharma said that the Association has been working on the areas – bringing investment in Nepal, charity works, and raising voices for the rights and interests of Nepalis living abroad.

The NRNA has prepared to transfer mobile blood buses to the Lumbini and Madhesh provinces as well.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 January 2024.   

Yeti Brewery IPO deal

 Kathmandu, Jan. 17

Yeti Brewery Limited has appointed NIMB Ace Capital Limited as the portfolio manager for issuing Initial Public Offering through the book-building method.

The agreement regarding the issue of shares has been signed by Sanjeev Saraf, Managing Director of Yeti Brewery Limited and Sachindra Dhungana, General Manager on behalf of NIMB Ace.

Yeti runs its brewery factory in Khairhani Municipality, Ward no.- 4 in Chitwan district. It produces beer brands such as Arna, Yeti, YB, Shikhar and Kingfisher.

Under the said agreement, NIMB Ace will provide the service of portfolio manager in all the works related to the public issue and management of the ordinary shares of Yeti Brewery through the book-building method.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 January 2024.