REGIONAL MEET OF ICOR BEGINS Kathmandu, 8 June: A three-day regional conference of the Asian Coordination of the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organization (ICOR) has kicked off in the capital on Saturday, RSS reports. The participants of the conference have said that many Asian countries were facing highhandedness of American imperialism while some countries are lagging behind in development due to monarchy and authoritarianism. They also said that democratic and anti-imperialist political parties and peoples should unite against the American imperialism. Chairman of Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal Chitra Bahadur KC inaugurated the programme attended by some 500 delegates from Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Addressing the conference, KC said that imperialism has been a global problem and even a danger as well. "World's developing and underdeveloped countries' sovereignty and independent economic development has been endangered due to globalization," KC argued. He also said that the Indian expansionism was perpetually dominating Nepal through political and economic interference and that has endangered Nepal's nationality, sovereignty and national unity. Also speaking at the programme, CPN-UML leader Pradip Gyawali, Nepali Congress leader Man Mohan Bhattarai, CPN-ML General Secretary CP Mainali and others said that all should fight against totalitarianism and expansionism that hinder the democratic process. CPN-Masal General Secretary Mohan Bikram Singh is scheduled to present a working paper on current political situation of Asia. Nnnn COMPUTERIZED ACCOUNTING SYSTEM FROM NEXT FISCAL YEAR Kathmandu, 8 June:: The government has decided to implement a computerized government accounting system (CGAS) from the coming fiscal year, RSS reports from Dhulikhel. It was informed at a 2-day training organized for economic journalists on 'public financial management' by the Public Account and Financial Accountability Secretariat here today. In the first round of the training, Officiating Comptroller General Arjun Pokhrel informed that the CGAS would be implemented for test in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Transport, and the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare. Similarly, Nepal public accounting standard would also be implemented from the coming fiscal year. With the implementation of these systems, the revenue details of any customs office across the country would be accessed immediately in the central level. The PAFA would also introduce treasury single account in remaining 15 districts from the coming fiscal year. At the programme, Rajendra Bajracharya of PAFA Secretariat facilitated on Nepal's budget process, its implementation and challenges, while Baburam Subedi on public financial management and Officiating Comptroller General Pokhrel on role of Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO) in public finance management. Nnnn PRASAD’S TENURE MAY BE EXTENDED Kathmandu, 8 June: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India is considering extending the tenure of its ambassador to Nepal Jayanta Prasad by three months, if Nepal goes to the Constituent Assembly elections by mid-November, Devenra Bhattarai writes in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi.. The two-year term of Prasad expires in August end, prior to his retirement from the Indian Foreign Service. The Indian government has already proposed Ranjit Rae, the incumbent Indian ambassador to Vietnam, as his successor and the Nepal government has approved his agreemo. “If the elections take place on November 14 as proposed by the Election Commission, the proposed ambassador will, most possibly, not take up his assignment immediately after Prasad leaves. In such a case, Rae’s deputation to Kathmandu will be deferred by three months,” said an External Affairs Ministry official. In 2008, then Indian Ambassador to Kathmandu Shiv Shanker Mukherjee got an additional stay of six months due to the deferral of the first Constituent Assembly polls. “If the parties in Nepal agree within a week to a mid-November date for the elections, Prasad’s term extension is possible,” said the ministry source. Even if the Nepali side has agreed to Rae’s proposal, the Indian government has not announced his appointment due to the political uncertainty and transition going on in Nepal. An old Nepal hand in New Delhi, Rae, 56, is one the architects of the 12-point agreement signed in 2005 in New Delhi between the then Seven-party Alliance and the CPN (Maoist). Rae was the joint-secretary at the MEA who looked after the (Nepal/Bhutan) North Desk. “Discussion is under way at the top level of the government whether to accord a special provision for Prasad by giving another three months,” said the source. “The decision will be out within next week.” Not only at the bureaucratic level, Nepal watchers in Delhi are following the developments in Nepal closely. “For the stability of democracy and peace, elections are a must for Nepal,” said former Ambassador to Nepal Mukherjee. Meanwhile, to understand the situation in Nepal better, the South Block is busy inviting Nepali leaders to New Delhi for consultation and dialogue with “as much political leaders as possible”. On Sunday, former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba is arriving in Delhi. Also coming are his spouse Arzoo Deuba and party leader Bimalendra Nidhi. A South Block official said the visits are aimed at garnering all attention to election and imparting the message that all the parties in Nepal are equal in the eyes of India. nnnn