18 CONCTRACTED NATIONAL CRICKET PLAYES PAID FOR FIRST TIME Kathmandu, 4 May: Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) Thursday handed over six-month salary for the first time to 18 contracted national players at Rs.5,000 per month. The 18 players were members of if the ACC T20 Cup and ICC World T20 Qualifiers. National Sports Council Member-Secretary Yubaraj Lama distributed cheques to the players. CAN also awarded Rs. 10,000 prize money to each member of the of the ICC World T20 Qualifiers. Nnnn 36 'URBAN REFUGEES’ TOGET EXIT PERMITS Kathmandu, 4 May: The government has decided to provide exit permits to 36 nationals of various countries staying in Nepal as ´urban refugees´ to facilitate their third country resettlement, Republica reports. The Home Ministry decided to grant the exit permits to the ´urban refugees´ after the Finance Ministry gave its consent to waiver of visa fees and penalty slapped on them. The ´urban refugees´ getting exit permits have received acceptance letters from the host countries for resettlement, officials said. Talking to Republica, Home Ministry Spokesperson Shankar Koirala said the cabinet has already taken a decision to provide exit permits to 36 ´urban refugees´, who have received letters of acceptance from host countries. "As a one-time provision, we plan to provide exit permits to all the urban refugees currently living in Nepal if they are able to secure letters of acceptance from host countries," he said. According to official statistics, some 272 people indentified as ´urban refugees´ are currently living in Nepal. Earlier, the Home Ministry had taken a decision to allow their resettlement as prolonging their stay in Nepal would only complicate matters. The Nepal government does not recognize the status of foreigners other than Bhutanese and Tibetans who arrived in Nepal as refugees before 1990. The government has had strong reservations over what it calls UNHCR´s "unilateral" recognition of other foreigners sheltering in Nepal as ´urban refugees´. UNHCR recognizes refugees living in urban areas of Nepal as urban refugees, regardless of their country of origin. Those recognized by UNHCR as ´urban refugees´ in Nepal belong to various countries including Somalia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They have been staying in Nepal for years as the government refused to issue them exit permits, labeling them "illegal immigrants". Nepal stopped providing on-arrival visas to the nationals of Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cameroon, Somalia, Liberia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan a few years ago in view of the increasing trend of nationals from these countries seeking shelter as ´urban refugees´ mainly with the intention of making their way to North American and Europe through third country resettlement. nnnn ________________________________________ ________________________________________ SAUDI ARABIA, QATAR, KUWAIT OPENING NEPAL MISSIONS Kathmandu, 4 May: Saudi Arabia and Qatar have appointed their consular and residential ambassador, respectively, for their new missions in Nepal, according to Foreign Ministry sources, The Kathmandu Post reports. As per their plans to open residential missions in Kathmandu, three major labour destination countries--Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait--have expedited efforts to manage logistics and human resources for their new missions. Two separate teams from Saudi and Qatar had visited Kathmandu last month to find appropriate locations to set up offices for the missions. "Saudi Arabia has corresponded with us through its newly appointed consular, who has been residing in Hotel Soaltee. Once they set up office here, the first Saudi ambassador to Nepal will take charge. Initially they will have 15-men mission," said the sources. Likewise, Qatar has appointed Ahmed Jassim Mohamed Ali al-Hamar as its first residential ambassador, according to sources. "Soon they will start working from Nepal." Director general of the Saudi Foreign Ministry, Ahamed H Alhamoud, had visited Kathmandu last month to fix a location for the embassy's chancery. Meanwhile, Kuwait is all set to open its Nepal mission soon. "In this regard, a Kuwaiti delegation is arriving in Kathmandu next week to inspect the chancery site," sources added. These oil rich countries have been hosting more than a million Nepali nationals. According to an official estimate, Saudi, Qatar and Kuwait are hosting over 600,000, 350,000 and 60,000 Nepali nationals, respectively. "The establishment of embassies in Kathmandu would certainly ease visa procedures for the Nepalis and others who want to work and travel to these countries," said the official. Nepal has already opened its residential missions in all these three countries. Nnnn