DPM NARAYAN KAZI SHRESTHA,, CHINESE PREMIER WEN TO MEET IN BEIJING FRIDAY

DPM NARAYAN KAZI SHRESTHA, CHINESE PRIME MINISTER WEN JIABAO MEET FRIDAY

Kathmandu, 25 Nov.: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Narayan Kazi Shrestha will discuss a proposed rare Nepal visit in the last week of December with Chinese Prime Minister Ren Jiabao in Beijing Friday morning.
Shrestha is in China preparing an environment for the visit leading a nine-member team.
Wen and Shrestha will discuss agenda for the visit and details of Chinese assistance to be announced during the visit.
An official announcement of the visit is being announced after the talks.
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ADB GRANTS 5.5m FOR EDUCATION

Kathmndu, 25 Nov.: Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has extended a US$65.5 million grant in a follow-up programme to address gender equality in education sector reform.
“The program will also strongly focus on equitable access and quality education, and make a concerted effort to reach out-of-school children, especially girls belonging to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups,” said Sungsup Ra, Director of ADB´s South Asia Human and Social Development Division in a statement.
A School Sector Reform Program (SSRP) financed by ADB is also supported by Australia, Denmark, European Union, Finland, Norway, UNICEF, the UK and World Bank.
“Nepal has been able to undertake a series of ground breaking reforms in school education, and impressive progress has been made in recent years, particularly with regard to access to education.
“However, the school sector still faces challenges. Through the implementation of the program, Nepal´s education system will be in a better position to provide fair, inclusive, and effective education,” Barry J Hitchcock, ADB Country Director for Nepal said.
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IFC TO BUY 8.25 PERCENT STAKE IN RMDC

Kathmandu, 25 Nov.: The International Finance Corporation (IFC),an affiliate of World Bank, is investing US$700,000 in. Rural Microfinance Development Centre (RMDC) to purchase its shares as the company goes public to expand its capital base.
An agreement signed this week by Kyle Kelhofer, IFC country manager for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal and Ashok Shumsher Rana, chairman of RMDC.
IFC will purchase a share at premium rate of Rs 180 per share For the first time an international investor has made equity investment in the company, which works as a wholesale lender to microfinance institutions in the country.
IFC will hold 8.25 percent shares in the finance company by purchasing each share at a premium of rate of Rs 180 per share with a face value of Rs.100.

Thirteen commercial banks hold 90.57 percent of shares of the company. Nepal Rashtra Bank 6.58 percent stake, 2.08 percent shares belong to five rural development banks and 0.77 percent shares are held by by Deposit and Credit Guarantee Corporation and Nirdhan Utthan Bank.

Shankar Man Shrestha, CEO of RMDC, called IFC´s decision to purchase RMDC´s equity a “milestone in the history of the organization”. “This will help boost RMDC´s operations and enhance the credibility of the company,” he said.

Kelhofer also expressed happiness over the partnership, as he said the IFC strongly believes in the potential of microfinance institutions and small and medium enterprises in bringing about positive socio-economic changes.

The partnership between the two was unveiled at a time when the RMDC is planning to float its shares to the public for the first time.

The company, with a paid up capital of Rs 320 million, has already appointed Ace Capital Limited as an issue manager and is all set to release 1.56 million units of shares on the market “within a month”.

Each of these shares will be sold at a premium of Rs 180 over the face value of Rs 100, Shrestha said.

He also informed about the company´s intention to float 140,000 additional units of shares to various institutional investors.

Once all these processes -- of selling equity to institutional investors and launching the IPO -- end, the company will have a capital of Rs 52 million, Shrestha said.
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20 PERCENT OF MAOIST COMBATANTS MAY HAVE DESERTED

Kathmandu, 25 Nov.: With the completion of categorization of nearly fifty percent Maoist combatants on Wednesday, preliminary trend indicates that the number of the Maoist combatants is likely to be significantly less than the figure recorded by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) in 2007, Kiran CHapagain reports in Republica..

“The preliminary trend indicates that the total number of combatants is likely to be less by 10 to 20 percent,” said coordinator of the secretariat under the Special Committee Balananda Sharma, who is leading a categorization team in Chitwan, on Thursday.

According to Sharma, this trend has been witnessed with the completion of the categorization in three brigades under the third division of the Maoist army in Chitwan.

Secretariat members who are leading the categorization process in other cantonments told Republica that there are also indications that the number of combatants is likely to be less than that recorded by UNMIN, a political mission of the UN which was in Nepal until January this year to advance Nepal´s peace process.

The UN mission had registered 19,605 Maoist combatants. But NC and CPN-UML have time and again been saying that not all the verified combatants have been living in the cantonments. An updated record of the Office of the Cantonment Management shows that the office released allowances to 19,525 combatants last month.

“The number is likely to be less than that recorded by UNMIN in this cantonment,” said Dr Shambhu Ram Simkhada, a secretariat member leading categorization process in Chulachuli, Ilam.

A government official involved in categorization in Rolpa told Republica over phone that the Maoists have gone to villages to ask the former combatants to return to the cantonments as less number of combatants cantoned in the satellite camps are turning up to take part in the categorization process.

Sharma said this trend will be clearer in the next few days as the categorization will draw closer to completion. He said categorization in Ilam and Chulachuli is likely to be completed by Saturday.

The categorization teams have completed categorization of 9,290 combatants by Thursday, according to Balananda Sharma, coordinator of the secretariat under the Special Committee. The categorization are as follows:

First Division, Ilam: 853
Second Division, Sindhuli: 1,164
Third Division, Chitwan: 2,288
Fourth Division, Nawalparasi: 1,661
Fifth Division, Surkhet: 1003
Sixth Division, Rolpa: 1147
Seventh Division, Kailali: 1,094

Total: 9290
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