NEPAL PLAYS AFGHANISTAN IN SOUTH ASIAN VOLLEYBALL

Kathmandu, 12 July: Nepal plays Afgta Afghanistan Friday in the

inaugural match of the First South Asian Invitational Men´s Volleyball Championship to

 in Kathmandu

Sri Lanka and the Maldives are also participating in the tournament.

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CHINA ASKS CPN MAOIST TO CONTEST POLLS

Kathmandu, 12 July: China has suggested to the CPN-Maoist to participate in the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections and contribute to political stability and economic prosperity in the Nepal, Purna Basnet writes in Republica from  Hong  Kong.. Chinese Vice-president Li Yuanchao offered the suggestion to CPN-Maoist Chairman Mohan Baidya during a meeting between the two sides in Beijing on Wednesday. Baidya had suddenly left on a visit to the northern neighbor earlier this week. According to sources in Beijing, Vice-president Li made a special request to Baidya and CPN-Maoist Vice-chairman CP Gajurel to reach a political agreement and make the coming CA polls a success. Stating that Nepal can progress toward political stability and economic prosperity after the election, "Li urged the visiting Nepali leaders to join hands with other political parties in making the election a success", said a Beijing-based source close to Baidya. CPN-Maoist, the breakaway faction of the UCPN(Maoist), had announced a boycott of the polls to be conducted by the present government. But the party, in a development that surprised many, also formed a five-member talks team headed by Baidya himself before he left for China Monday. He was invited to China by the international department of the Chinese Communist Party. Prior to the meeting with Li, Chinese Vice-Minister Ai Ping also held discussions with Baidya and Gajurel about the Maoist party´s policy on poll boycott, unification between the CPN-Maoist and UCPN(Maoist), and regional geopolitics. Li had held an extensive discussion on Nepal-China relations with UCPN(Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, during the latter´s visit to China three months ago. Chinese leaders have been pushing the two Nepali Maoist communist parties to reunite. Sources said that Li suggested to Baidya to forge an election alliance with the UCPN(Maoist) even if it was not possible for the two parties to reunify in the near future. As the CPN-Maoist has already formed a talks team to negotiate with the government and the high level political committee, it is assumed that pressure from the northern neighbor could be instrumental in persuading the Baidya Maoists to join the elections. Baidya and Gajurel are scheduled to return to Nepal Thursday evening.
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TRADE DEFECIT RS.480 BILLION PLUS Kathmandu, 12 July:: Amidst slowing exports and ballooning import volumes, Nepal’s trade deficit jumped by 26.5 percent to Rs 480 billion during the first eleven months or daily Rs 1.45 billion of the current fiscal year, official data shows, Republica reports.. The Trade and Export Promotion Center (TEPC) said the export-import ratio stood at 1:7.9 of Rs 618.93 billion worth of total trade reported during the review period. Total exports from Nepal stood at Rs 69.3 billion, or 11.2 percent of total trade, while imports stood at Rs 549.63 billion. Rise in exports was recorded at a marginal rate of 1.9 percent while imports jumped by 22.7 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. During the review period, exports of woolen carpet and readymade garments dropped by 13 percent and 16.3 percent to Rs 5.1 billion and Rs 3.33 billion respectively. However, exports of iron products increased by 2.6 percent to Rs 10.73 billion while export of polyester yarn decreased by 8.9 percent to Rs 5.28 billion. Import of petroleum products increased by 15.9 percent to Rs 100.58 billion, transport vehicles by 37.3 percent to Rs 29.9 billion and electric/electronic goods by 12.4 percent to Rs 21.76 billon during the review period compared to last year same period. Nnnn