MANPOWER ENTREPRENEUR THANESHWOR DEBKOTA KILLED IN JEEP ACCIDENT Kathmandu, 4 June: Thaneshor Debkota was among two persons killed in a jeep accident at Nakwanpur. The manpower entrepreneur was coming to the capital from the neighbouring district. nnnn. QATAR EMBASSY STARTS OPERATION FROM HOTEL Kathmandu, 4 June: Qatar embassy has started operating from Soaltee Hotel. Business will be conducted from thehotel until the embassy moves into its own premise. nnnn NEPALI IN LIST OF RICHEST AUSTRALIANS Kathmandu, 4 June: Nepali national Shesh Ghale is ranked 166 in this year’s list of Australia’s richest published by a magazine. He’s worth 255 million Australian dollars. In 2011, he was ranked with 237 million Aistralian dollars. NEPAL ASKS USA TO HOLD EARLY BUSINESS TALKS Kathmandu, 4 June: The government of Nepal has requested the US government to bring forward the second joint council meeting of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to July, The Kathmandu Post writes.. The meeting was scheduled to be held in September, and Nepal has asked for an earlier date as many trade related issues needed to be settled immediately. “Though the meeting is supposed to be held annually, we have missed the deadline,” said an official of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). He added that the delay would affect Nepal’s trade with the US as measures to simplify trade between the two countries were expected to be discussed during the second TIFA meeting. MoCS officials said that holding the meeting at the earliest was critical as a trade strategy needs to be developed to promote trade and investment between the two countries. “Without a specific trade strategy, Nepal and the US will not know the scope and limitations of the TIFA joint council itself,” said Naindra Prasad Upadhyay, joint secretary at the MoCS. Nepal has asked for preferential treatment for 11 products, including pashmina and readymade garments, in the US. The US government has not responded to the request. Ministry officials have put much significance on the second TIFA meeting as the meeting will discuss the Generalised System of Preference facility for Nepali products. They said that the government wants to finalize issues like market access for Nepali pashmina and readymade garments, promotion of investment between the two countries and US investment in Nepal during Nepal Investment Year 2012-13. The first meeting of the TIFA Council was held on April 17, 2011 in Washington, the same day TIFA was signed. The US is Nepal’s second largest export market. It is one of the few trading partners with which Nepal has a trade surplus. In the last fiscal year, Nepal exported goods worth Rs 4.39 billion to the US. Nepal has been exporting products such as readymade garments, handicraft items, herbs, pashmina and woollen carpets to the US. The government and the private sector are preparing to review the understanding with the US to identify areas of cooperation during the second joint council meeting of TIFA. The ministry has also organised a public-private dialogue to identify opportunities and issues in tourism, energy, manufacturing and agriculture and forestry. According to the ministry, the report of the public-private dialogue will be helpful to prepare the major agenda for the second joint council meeting. The ministry is planning to organise an interaction or an internal meeting to prepare the final agenda for the second meeting. “We will send the agenda after we hear from the US about our proposal to hold the meeting in July,” said Upadhyay. nnnn NEPAL, CHINA BORDER TALKS Kathmandu, 4 June: Nepal and China have started talking security and border related issues from the Home Secretary to the district levels, gradually formalising bilateral mechanisms to check cross border crime and share information, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.. Though such meetings between the two sides used to take place in the past, the recent ones are being held in a formal manner for the first time. "We have started taking these various levels of mechanism in a formal way. Starting from the Home Secretary level, both sides have now agreed to hold meetings at the district level for effective coordination of border security as well as information sharing," said Home Ministry spokesperson Shanker Koirala. The two sides have recently agreed to share regular information through diplomatic channels. They recently concluded border security talks in Lhasa, where Koirala led the Nepali delegation. Major General of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Yue Jun, led the Chinese side. "We did not have formal meeting in the past. Now, we have started making them formal," Koirala said. Nepal and China have another mechanism at the Joint Secretary Level. The division chief at the Home Ministry, who looks after peace and security, and his Chinese counterpart at the Ministry of Public Security are meeting on a yearly basis. "The Lhasa meeting concluded last Friday and we discussed information sharing, cooperation between security personnel stationed at border areas, curbing cross border criminal activities and drug trafficking, while we also agreed to work together at the district level too," said another participant of the meeting. "The Chinese side also raised the issue of Tibetan refugees and asked the Nepali side to curb their activities," the official said. Home Secretary Sushil Jung Bahadur Rana will be visiting Beijing at the end of this month or early in July to attend a highest level of bilateral mechanism meeting. The visit and the agenda are, however, yet to be endorsed by the Cabinet. Also, a Chinese team from Yunnan Province led by the Chief of the Police Officer Academy is arriving in Kathmandu in mid June to look into the possibilities of opening a college for the Armed Police Force. During the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the two sides had agreed to establish an Armed Police Force college. According to the agreement, China will provide RMB 4 million for a preliminary study to be carried out for the establishment of the college. nnnn TUSSLE BETWEEN BHANDARI, GACHHADHAR INTENSIFIES Kathmandu, 4 June: The tug of war between Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar and the party’s senior leader Sharat Singh Bhandari intensified further as some youth leaders close to the latter formed a parallel committee of Madhesi Youth Forum Democratic (MYUD), a youth wing of the party, The Himalayan Times writes.. The establishment faction of the party has asked Bhandari to submit an explanation by today why he appeared before the President on the night of May 27 ‘along with anti-federalist forces.’ Gopal Ray Kurmi who was expelled by the MYUD on May 23 for supporting the newly formed Broader Madhesi Front’s protest programmes, has been named the Chairman of the newly formed parallel committee. Saider Ansari, Dharma Lal Yadav, Manoj Chaurasiya, Hansha Sah and Biswas Dwivedi are the Vice Chairpersons of the newly formed 101 member MYUD. Kurmi claimed that they were the valid group now as 34 of 46 central members of the MYUD were with them. “Out of 22 Tarai districts, nine district chapters of the organisation and nine office bearers of the district chapters including the Chairpersons are with us,” Kurmi said in a press conference organised here today. Kurmi said they decided to form a new committee because the Gachhadar-led establishment faction acted against the interest of Madhes and Madhesis and was unnecessarily harassing Bhandari for the latter’s political activism. Kurmi said it was mainly because of the BMF’s pressure that the major parties did not dare to divide Madhes into five pradeshes. Shatrughan Prasad Singh Koiri, the Chairman of the MYUD close to Gachhadar said Kurmi and Samir Rana Magar had been expelled from the organisation and had no authority to form a parallel committee. Koiri said only four persons among 46 central members of the MYUD had defected. He also refuted Kurmi’s claim about defections of district chapters of the organisations. “All of our district chapters are with us. These people are opportunists. They have nothing to do with Madhes issues,” Koiri said. nnnn GOVT. PROMPTING NEW COMPANIES TO START NTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS Kathmandu, 4 June: The government, with an aim to promote new private companies and the existing ones, has announced the application to issue licence for the establishment of airlines or extension of domestic airlines for international air service operation by private airlines, The Himalayan Times reports.. “We are trying to promote the existing domestic airline companies and at the same time also trying to introduce new private companies to start airline services,” said joint secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Suresh Acharya. The ministry is planning to issue two licences –– one for cargo service and the other for passenger service. The ministry on May 25, 2012 had announced for proposals requesting for International Airlines Operating Licence by interested companies. International companies currently have 94 per cent market share of the Nepali airline sector. “There are a number of private companies interested and through this announcement we are planning to provide them the opportunity,” he said. According to a decision of the Council of Ministers on December 8, 2009, registered private companies can apply for a licence for operating international flights. At the same time, existing private airlines in Nepal can also apply for international flight operation licence. There are 28 international airline operators, 10 fix-wing operators and five rotary-wing operators. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Kingfisher Airlines has postponed its flights among the 28 different international operators. Meanwhile, three different international operators –– Malaysian Air, Air Asia and BB Airways –– will soon start flights from Tribhuwan International Airport. Malaysian Air will start its flights from June, Air Asia from June 3 and BB Airways is preparing for its flight from September. BB Airways is promoted by TBI Group — an investment company led by Non-Resident Nepalese Association treasurer Bhawan Bhatta. According to the ministry, the private companies willing to apply for the international flight operation licence must follow the country’s civil aviation regulations. The airline first needs to get permission from the ministry before approaching CAAN for its evaluation. A new airline needs a bank guarantee of Rs 500 million and should have at least three aircraft, either on lease or on purchase basis, before it starts operations. The potential international airlines should put up a security bond of Rs 5 million and have a paid up capital of Rs 500 million. The company should also pay Rs 50,000 for the terms of reference document. An airline that fulfills these terms of reference must obtain the air operator certificate within a year and start flights within the next year. nnnn