RS..420 MILLION EU GRANT

Rs.420 MILLION EU GRANT
Kathmandu, 14 March: The European Union (EU) is providing a grant assistance of EUR 4 million (approximately Rs 420 million) to Nepal for institutionalisation of the Nepal Food Security Monitoring System, RSS reports.
This contribution will be used to implement capacity development activities in the areas of food security over a period of four years, according to a press release of the European Union Delegation to Nepal.
This is the second phase of funding provided by the EU to develop the Nepal Khadya Surakshya Anugaman Pranali (NeKSAP).
Country Representative of the World Food Programme (WFP), Nicole Menage and Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Bijaya Kumar Mallik signed an agreement to this effect at a programme held at the EU Office on Wednesday morning.
Dr. Alexander Spachis, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Nepal, was present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Spachis said the European Union has prioritised food security as a key area of poverty reduction and economic development across the developing world and expressed the belief that this programme will strengthen the Government's capacity to understand many facets of food insecurity in Nepal and to formulate and implement appropriate evidence-based policies and programmes.
WFP Nepal Country Representative, Menage said, "We are very grateful for this generous assistance from the EU, which will play an important role in embedding this comprehensive food security monitoring system within the government structure."
Senior Statistical Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Hemraj Regmi briefed about the first phase of the NeKSAP.
NeKSAP was established in 2002 and is currently managed by WFP in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. It is considered the most comprehensive food security monitoring system now operational in Nepal and has the primary objective the collection, consolidation and analysis of food security data to be used by the decision makers, allowing them to take coordinated and timely action to alleviate food insecurity in the country.
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RAIL SERVICE PACT SOON
Kathmandu, 14 March: Nepal and India will sign a Letter of Exchange for the final implementation of the Railway Service Agreement in May, The Himalayan Times reports.

“After two months, we will sign a Letter of Exchange so that we can execute the railway service agreement signed in 2004 and reviewed recently,” said joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Naindra Prasad Upadhyay. “Currently, a committee under the ministry is preparing the draft of the Letter of Exchange,” he said. During the second comprehensive review meeting of the Railway Service Agreement between Nepal and India, both the countries agreed for the operation of additional wagon and container during imports.

The railway service agreement was made

in May 2004 and according to the agreement it should have been reviewed every five years

but it failed to be reviewed in 2009 due to various circumstances.

However, after an interval of around three years the comprehensive review meeting of the Railway Service Agreement between Nepal and India was organised on March 1– 2 in the capital. Meanwhile, the third meeting of the Railway Service Agreement between Nepal and India will take place in New Delhi after six months.
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INVESTMENT BOARD OBJECTIVES
Kathmandu, 14 March: The meeting of the Investment Board today discussed on making foreign investment regulations investor friendly, The Himalayan Times reports.
“We discussed about regulations that are needed to help the board function according to the Investment Board Act,” a member of the Investment Board said, adding that the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai was unable to finalise the regulations today and will be meeting within a week again.

Earlier, the board had formed a committee under National Planning Commission vice chairman Deependra Bahadur Kshetri to work out regulations to support the Investment Board Act to attract investments.

The board has also been working on the harmonisation of various investment related regulations to attract projects worth around Rs 500 billion.

Similarly, the board, today, invited an expert from International Finance Corporation to brief the board on hydropower development. “The expert briefed about various aspects of hydropower development and its challenges,” the member said, adding that the meeting shared a lot of experiences on hydropower development.

Apart from the regulations, the board is also working on incentive packages to be offered to investors to encourage them to come to Nepal. The country needs above Rs 600 billion to achieve double digit growth and “the board has been working on to attract at least 50 big projects worth Rs 10 billion each to give a boost to economic growth with employment generation,” said chief executive of the board Radhesh Pant.

The country has been witnessing around three to four per cent growth in recent years because of low investment due to political instability and an unpredictable situation.

Investors, either foreign or domestic, want a predictable environment for investment planning but this time around the country that is passing through a transition has been trying to lure them with policy harmonisation and incentive packages.
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