UPDATE INVESTMENT BOARD MEET Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: The Investment Board has given a green signal to increase the capacity of the Upper Karnali and Upper Marsyangdi Hydropower Projects, RSS reports.. A meeting of the board chaired by Prime Minister and Board Chairperson Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Tuesday approved increasing the capacity of Upper Karnali from 300 watt to 900 watt and of Upper Marsyangdi from 250 watt to 650 watt. Likewise, the capital of both the projects would be reached to a sum of 1.9 billion. The board also took a decision to extend the survey permit to promoter of Arun III hydel project Sutlet Power Company and GMR of Upper Karnali by another six months, according to member of the Board Kush Kumar Joshi. Likewise, the board approved five big projects including the West Seti Hydel Project and the Tribhuvan International Airport reforms project. It has moved ahead with the modernization and management of international and regional airports. The board plans to spearhead works relating to a waste management and processing plant, chemical fertilizer factory, petrol refinery plan, important bridges, special economic zones, export promotion centres and information technology park among others. Nnnn EU LAUD Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: The European Union (EU) has praised the programmes implemented by the government and aimed at reducing the impact of climate change, RSS reports. Formation of Climate Change Council under the leadership of the Prime Minister, establishment of Climate Change Division under the Ministry of Science and Technology, implementation of the 'climate change budget code' by the National Planning Commission and the formation of talks groups related to climate change are the latest efforts made by the government to minimize the impact of climate change. During a conference on 'EU-Nepal Cooperation on Climate Change and Sustainable Development : Accelerating Progress towards International Commitments' organised jointly by the Government of Nepal and European Union here today, the EU representatives praised Nepal for its initiatives to combat the impact of climate change. Minister- Counselor EU delegation to Nepal, India, Bhutan Councilor Robert Donkers said Nepal is vulnerable to impact of climate and programmes implemented by the Nepal Government to reduce such impact are really praiseworthy. He pledged to continue EU financial and technical support to Nepal for damage mitigation in the future also. Similarly, Renate Stangl, Charge d' Affaires of the European delegation to Nepal, said direct impact of climate change has started to be seen on the environment of mountain regions and underlined the need of collective efforts from Hindukush region to tackle such problems. Minister for Science, Technology and Environment Dr Keshabman Shakya said reducing impact of climate change was the top priority of the government. Vice Chairman of National Planning Commission Deependra Bahadur Kshetry said the climate change code has been implemented in all the development programmes. Likewise, Secretary at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment Keshab Bhattarai said the government was actively working to minimize the impact of climate change. nnnn NEPALIS NEED TB TESTS TO GET ENTRY TO UK FROM 2013 Kaaaaaathamandu, 18 Dec.: Nepalis will have to go through tuberculosis screening to get UK visas of longer than six months from 2013, British embassy said. The UK Border Agency Tuesday announced the timetable and arrangements for the introduction of pre-entry tuberculosis (TB) screening in Nepal. nnnn