Nepal’s telecommunications company, Ncell, owned by Axiata, filling a request of arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, against the government’s order to pay due capital gains tax has been featured in most papers along with news of Nepal and China signing seven agreements during President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s state visit to Nepal’s northern neighbour.
Here is a summary of important, ignored and interesting stories from the front pages of national broadsheets:
Important
Seven major agreements signed between Nepal and China
Kantipur, Nepal Samacharpatra, Nagarik, Republica and The Kathmandu Post report that Nepal and China have inked seven different agreements, including the Protocol on Implementing the Agreement on Transit Transport, during the state visit of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to China.
The agreements were signed after an official meeting between President Bhandari and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of People on Monday. President Bhandari and President Xi had witnessed the signing ceremony of the agreements.
Among the agreements reached between the two countries on Monday, the Protocol on Implementing Agreement on Transit Transport is considered an important agreement. While Foreign Minister Pradip Kumar Gyawali signed the agreement on behalf of Nepal, Chinese Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng signed in it on behalf of the Chinese government.
Although the protocol agreement was under discussion between the two countries for over four decades, Nepal had failed to ink the deal as Nepal because signing the Agreement on Transit Transport with China was still pending. During the visit of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli to China three years ago, Nepal and China had reached a historic agreement on trade and transit.
Nepal and China also exchanged minutes of meeting on Strengthening Assistance Co-operation in the Field of Livelihood in the Northern Region of Nepal on Monday. As per the agreement, China has agreed to provide 1 billion Yuan (ie approximately Rs 16.5 billion) to develop China-aided projects in Nepal. The grant assistance being provided by China to Nepal has increased significantly after Nepal was hit by catastrophic earthquakes in 2015.
The deals signed between Nepal and China are as follows:
- Protocol on Implementing Agreement on Transit Transport
- Handover Certificate of Grant-Aid for the Repair and Reinforcement Project of the Existing China-aided Projects
- Agreement on Economic and Technical Co-operation
- Minutes of Meeting on Strengthening Assistance Co-operation in the Field of Livelihood in the Northern Region of Nepal
- Agreement on Co-operation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters
- MoU on Co-operation on Standardization between Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) and Standardization Administration of China (SAC)
- Agreement on Preventing the Theft, Clandestine Excavation, and Illicit Import and Export of Cultural Property
Xi promises to visit Nepal
The Himalayan Times reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping has said he will be visiting Nepal at a convenient time. Xi made the commitment in response to visiting President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s cordial invitation to him to pay a state visit to Nepal during their delegation-level bilateral talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Bhandari is on a nine-day state visit to China at the invitation of Xi.
Xi, who has visited South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives, is yet to visit Nepal.
Ignored
Malaysian climber’s guide says he gave him his oxygen to save his life
The Himalayan Times reports that Nima Tshering Sherpa, who guided Wui Kin Chin, a Malaysian doctor, to the top of the world’s tenth highest mountain, said the climber could survive above Camp IV on Mt Annapurna because he gave him his oxygen cylinder. According to him, the descent turned out to be more perilous and difficult as the Singapore-based senior anaesthesiologist fell unconscious and stopped moving below French Couloir. As Kin Chin ran out of supplemental oxygen near French Couloir, Sherpa gave his tank to him.
After being exposed to sub-zero temperature for nearly two days above Camp IV, Kin Chin was evacuated from Annapurna base camp to Kathmandu-based Mediciti Hospital on Friday. The climber, whose health is said to be critical, was airlifted to Singapore for treatment yesterday.
Dahal and Deuba meet to discuss transitional justice commissions
The Kathmandu Post reports that amid confusion—and growing pressure—over the future course of the transitional justice process, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Nepal Communist Party Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal have expedited discussions to find a meeting point to take forward the process, which has been dragging on for more than a decade.
The government is currently in the process of appointing new officials at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, and conflict victims have already expressed their concerns over a repeat of the past mistakes. Four years ago, officials at the transitional justice bodies were appointed on the basis of quota from political parties. According to sources, Deuba and Dahal dwelt mainly on the selection of new leadership in the two commissions during their meeting on Sunday.
Interesting
Bhetuwal reimburses Khulamanch shopkeepers
Republica reports that Manoj Bhetuwal, the contractor who constructed shops at Khulamanch and sold them has started returning the money he collected from shop owners.
Bhetwaul has a contract from the metropolis for using the Khulamanch space, without however constructing any structures there. He has illegally collected about Rs 1 million each from the shopkeepers. There were 40 stalls in total which were demolished by KMC on Saturday. One shopkeeper claimed that about a dozen shopkeepers were called by the contractor to his Khulamanch-based office and given back the money they had submitted to him.
Gautam Budhha International airport to be complete by 2020
Karobar reports that contractors state that gautam Buddha International Airport will be ready by visit Nepal year 2020. The scheduled date for the completion of the airport by June 28.
That said, work is going on at a good pace in the past few months. The runway is 50 per cent complete. Contractors say that the runway will be complete by next month if the weather allows. They also say that the arrival and departure building will also be ready by the end of 2019.
