FOREIGN MINISTER SHRESTHA MEETS CHINESE PREMIER WEN JIABAO FRIDAY

FOREIGN MINISTER SHRESTHA MEETING CHINESE PREMIER WEN JIABAO FRIDAY
Kathmandu, Nov 23, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha Wednesday met with Baima Thinley, Chairman of People’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of People’s Republic of China.
During the meeting, the duo exchanged views on the various aspects of bilateral relations. The two leaders discussed matters of mutual interests, including trade, tourism, investment, economic cooperation and development between Nepal and TAR of China. They also expressed their happiness on recent exchanges of high-level bilateral visit from both sides.
According to a press release by the Consulate General of Nepal in Lhasa, DPM and FM Shrestha reiterated Nepal’s firm commitment on ‘One China Policy’ and policy of not allowing any anti-China activities in Nepali soil. He also briefed Thinley about the recent developments on peace and constitution writing process at home.
He appreciated China for the continued support to Nepal’s development endeavors. He also thanked TAR Government for its Material Assistanbe Program operated in 15 Northern bordering districts of Nepal for 5 years.
On the occasion, chairman Thinley appreciated Nepal’s policy towards China and her support do maintain peace and stability in the bordering areas and not allowing any anti-China activities in Nepali territory, the statement read.
Thinley assured of further co-operation and assistance from the Government of TAR to Nepal’s socio-economic development. He also expressed his readiness to short out all the operational level problems for the smooth implementation of the Material Assistance Program.
DPM Shrestha had left for Lhasa Tuesday for a weeklong official visit to China.
Nnnn

MOUNT EVEREST GAINING HEIGHT
Kathmandu, 24 Nov.: A new geoid survey of Mt Everest indicates that the government may need to revise the official height of the world’s highest mountain, Ajaya Bhadra Khanal writes in The Himalayan Times.
Preliminary results of an ongoing survey, obtained by THT, show the new height of Mt Everest to be approximately 8,848.9 metres in World Height System, which is 90 cm more than the current official value of Nepal. The margin of error is about 10 cm. The final results of the survey, being jointly undertaken by the National Space Institute (DTU) of Denmark and the Department of Survey, Nepal are yet to be calculated. The geoid of Nepal was measured through an airborne gravity survey in December last year.

Earlier, a survey team led by Y Chen of China in 2005 had put the snow height at 8,847.93 metres whereas the National Geographic Society survey of 1999 had pegged the height at 8,850 metres, some seven feet higher than previously thought. Scientists used Global Positioning System satellite equipment carried to the summit by two Sherpas on May 5 of that year to calculate the height.

The Himalayas are the most rugged gravity field on the planet, and one of the goals of the 2010 airborne survey, which was done at a height of about 35,000 feet, was to find a revised height of Mt Everest, said researchers from DTU and DoS. The Nepal government is, however, trying to measure the height of the world’s highest mountain on its own. The government announced in July that it was measuring the height of the world’s tallest mountain using latest technology.

“Currently the proposal is at the Ministry of Finance for programme approval,” Krishna Raj BC, Director General of DoS, said. “We are looking at more beneficial options and are corresponding with different international agencies. We still need a lot of assistance to move this project ahead.” GPS measurements of Everest, particularly by Chinese and Italian teams were done in 1995, 1999 and 2005. Earlier technology used methods of levelling and triangulation from the sea level, including sea level in Kolkata and the Yellow Sea.

The airborne gravity survey was done by Rene Forsberg, Arne V Olesen and Indridi Einarsson from DTU and Niraj Manandhar and Kalyan Shrestha from DoS, Nepal.

The government entered into an agreement with DTU in 2009. Scientists think Everest is growing taller by about 4 mm every year due to uplift caused by the Indian tectonic plate pushing northward into Asia.
Nnnn

INDIA ALLOWS NRB TO INVEST IN 91-DAY T-BILL

Kathamandu, 24 Nov.:: India has finally given its consent to Nepal to invest on 91-day treasury bills, a move that would enable Nepal´s central bank enjoy better returns and also facilitate its international payments, Republica reports.

So far, India was allowing Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to invest on its 14-day treasury bills only. NRB had been requesting India, its Indian counterpart in particular, to allow it invest on longer term bills since long. The issue was raised during Prime Minister Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai´s recent visit to India as well.

“Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has finally responded to our call positively. This is a major development. India has not allowed any other central bank to invest on it so far,” said a senior official at NRB. He told Republica that the central bank would start investing on the new avenue within a week.

Records show, NRB´s investment on 14-day treasury bills in India has been fetching it interest income of 5 percent. With investments in 91-day treasury bills, officials said the investment will yield 8 percent interest returns.

“Investments on dollars have barely been yielding return of even a percent. Interest return of 8 percent that 91-day treasury bills yields will ensure additional profits to the country,” said the source.

Nepal presently maintains a reserve of around 40 billion Indian rupee at the RBI. It has made arrangements of investing them on 14-day treasury bills that are traded in Kolkata when there is no pressure of using them for various payments.

Though the officials ruled out possibility of raising this volume of reserve for now, they disclosed the central bank plans of investing the major chunk of the reserve in the 91-day treasury bills that is traded in Mumbai.

“We will write to RBI about our new investment plan within a couple of days. This will put in place an automatic mechanism of investment,” said the source. If required, NRB can always ask RBI to sell the bills to service international payments, he stated, elaborating that the fresh arrangement will facilitate overseas payments and also reduce the cost of payments as well.

Latest report show, investment made by NRB is presently fetching returns at an average of 1.40 percent. Returns on investment done on greenback stands merely at 0.3 percent, which is much lower than investments done on other convertible currency and in India.

According to NRB, it has put around 18 percent of its total investments in US treasury bills and invested another 55 percent on US dollar. It has invested another 17 percent in Euro treasury bills and about 10 percent in UK treasury bills.

Going by the existing rule, NRB can make investments on US dollar, pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Japanese Yen and Indian rupee. The Investment Guidelines allow NRB to invest as much as IRs 25 billion on Indian instruments. It also seeks NRB to maintain 40 percent of total investment portfolio on liquid instruments.

However, at any point of time, NRB must make sure it has enough reserve to finance goods and services imports for 6 months and also clear principle and interest of external debts for a year.

As global economic instability has been affecting currency and securities market, NRB has been witnessing a drop in its profits in recent years. Records show, NRB´s profits for 2006/07 had stood at Rs 6.25 billion. It, however, dropped to Rs 1.73 billion in 2009/10. It grew nominally to Rs 2.28 billion in 2010/11.
nnnn




________________________________________






________________________________________