The fertilizers were received by the provincial offices of Krishna Samagiri Company in Birgunj, Biratnagar, and Bhairahawa.

Both the Asian countries signed an agreement that would have witnessed Nepal receiving 50,000 metric tonnes of urea. Additionally, Nepal would have already received the complete agriculture delivery.

However, due to the pandemonium caused by the contagion, Bangladesh sent the fertilizers now. The rest of the 5,000 metric tonnes, along with an added 2,000 metric tonnes, will be sent by Bangladesh in a week.

The timing of the fertilizer arrival was apt as the monsoon season has begun. The paddy plantation is initiated by the farmers across Nepal at this point in time.

Stay Tuned to NepaliSansar for Latest Nepal News Updates!

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The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) had bid a farewell to the 34-member team at the Tribhuvan University International Airport on November 05, 2020.

The ANFA has selected eight new players for the 34-member team in place of regular national players who tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, national player Rohit Chand was also dropped from the team due to an injury.

Nepali National Football Team:

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Prime Ministers of Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka and a representative of the Pakistani PM participated in the first ever video conference on March 15, 2020.

All the leaders agreed to establish a joint response mechanism to stave off Coronavirus (COVID-19) threat in the region. They also agreed to evaluate the long-term implications of the coronavirus on the regional economy and find the best strategies for early recovery.

Initiating the conference from New Delhi, Indian PM Narendra Modi proposed a rapid response team of doctors and specialists, surveillance software, online training and common research mechanism at the disposal of the SAARC to combat the COVID-19.

He also proposed to establish a ‘COVID-19 Emergency Fund’ and agreed to provide USD 10 million as initial contribution. He, then, requested the other leaders to voluntarily contribute to the fund.

Other countries including Nepal approved the ‘Emergency Fund’ proposal initiated by India and agreed to contribute to the fund.

Meanwhile, Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli proposed to establish a SAARC emergency medical facility to deal with the identical health challenges in the region.

He shared the strategies and policies initiated by the Nepali Government to impede the coronavirus spread in the country.

“Even though we had detected one suspected case, the COVID-19 test proved negative. Yet, we are aware of the high risk of possible outbreak at any time. We remain alert to prevent it,” said PM Oli.

Likewise, all the other leaders expressed their opinions on the coronavirus outbreak.

This was for the first time the top South Asian leaders have participated in the SAARC summit since 2014 when the last summit took place in Nepal.

Coronavirus outbreak in SAARC countries

• India – 115 cases, 2 deaths
• Pakistan – 94 cases
• Afghanistan – 21 cases
• Sri Lanka – 18 cases
• Maldives – 13 cases
• Bangladesh – 5 cases
• Bhutan – 1 case
• Nepal – 1 case

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Across the world, AMR kills an estimated 700 000 people annually, including 230 000 from multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

By 2050, unless urgent action is taken, AMR is expected to kill 10 million annually. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are responsible for a substantial proportion of the AMR burden.

The emergence and spread of resistant bacteria is accelerated by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in human and animal health.

The WHO South-East Asia Region is taking decisive action to combat AMR, which since 2014 has been a Flagship Priority.

All Member States have developed a national multisectoral action plan to address AMR. They are now implementing them.

Each Member State has signed on to the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System, a key initiative that will advance AMR-related research. Region-wide, the Tripartite Collaboration on AMR, which comprises WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), is addressing vulnerabilities in the human and animal health sectors, as well as in agriculture. Ensuring antibiotics are used rationally continues to be a core priority.

The Region’s progress must be sustained. It must also be accelerated – an outcome the new WHO-convened Regional Taskforce for AMR will help achieve. In pursuit of the Region’s Flagship Priority on AMR, as well as its quest to achieve universal health coverage, health authorities Region-wide should adopt and implement several high-impact interventions.

First, WHO’s AWaRe classification tool should be fully harnessed. The AWaRe tool groups antibiotics into three main categories – ‘Access’, ‘Watch’ and ‘Reserve’ – based on their strength and potential impact on AMR. By adopting the tool’s classification scheme, health authorities can more effectively monitor antibiotic consumption, align their essential medicines list (EML) with WHO’s Model EML, and update or establish treatment guidelines that increase the appropriate use of antibiotics. Each outcome will fast-track preventive efforts.

Second, increased focus should be given to strengthening infection prevention and control (IPC) in health care facilities. Clean water, adequate sanitation and essential equipment are all crucial to providing health care that is of adequate quality and which minimizes health care-associated infections. So too are health workers and facility staff that are trained in and implement IPC. All efforts should be made to ensure that health facilities from the primary level up are fit for purpose, and do not serve as AMR incubators.

Third, political leadership, advocacy and coordination on AMR should be scaled up. This is especially so when it comes to empowering all people to take responsibility for the future of antibiotics – the theme of this year’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week.

From promoting the appropriate prescribing of antibiotics to emphasizing the need to reduce antibiotic usage in the animal sector, leaders from all sectors should drive home an important point: The future of antibiotics is in our hands.

WHO is committed to supporting Member States as they continue to go from strength to strength in the battle against AMR. Together we can improve antibiotic treatment, increase access to antibiotics and reduce antimicrobial resistance. Together we can secure the future of our most precious drugs and rollback the global AMR crisis. We must act decisively. We must act now.

Source: World Health Organization, South-East Regional (SEAR) Office

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Addressing the Global Law Conference in Chandigarh University, Justice Mohan said rising pollution levels in New Delhi has caused concerns if the same would spread to Nepal, especially Kathmandu.

“The threat was diffused when the department of meteorology stated that the mountains should prevent it, but others of different opinion said, it actually depends on the direction that the winds take and their intensity,” Mohan said in a statement.

Speaking on the regional scenario, Mohan said Nepal is currently operating without any thermal power. Whereas, Indian Punjab High Court Judge Ajay Tewari said India is far from that and has 70% dependence on coal for power generation.

“South Asia has the darkest spots of air pollution and air quality in cities in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh is lower than WHO standards,” says Mohan, urging South Asian nations to come together for a concrete action plan.

He said Nepal has been facing severe air pollution since years and it has worsened in the last couple of years.

“Last week when air quality caused a panic there was concern in Kathmandu as to whether the polluted air from Delhi would flow over to Nepal,” he added, citing intensity of the scenario.

Addressing the large gathering of national and international delegates, Justice Mohan said the Nepal Supreme Court had made many decisions pertaining to environmental degradation.

“However, it is a matter of concern that those orders are not making any impact on the ground. I think the time has come for us to break the narrow domestic wall and enforce partnership in the neighborhood for sustained and long-term action,” he suggested.

“The judiciary or government cannot do it by themselves without public participation,” says Tewari.

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As the reports say, the higher officials’ meeting was part of preparations for the upcoming two-day BIMSTEC summit scheduled for August 30-31, 2018.

The meeting, headed by Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shanker Das Bairagi, saw senior officials from the Ministries of Foreign/External Affairs of the BIMSTEC member nations.

The meeting is focused on preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit, says Bairagi.

During the meeting, the officials focused on 14 areas of priorities including energy, tourism, trade & investment, transport & communications, agriculture & poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, public health & environment and natural disaster & climate change set by the member states.

Nepal PM’s Address on BIMSTEC 2018
Ahead of the ministerial meeting on the side-lines of BIMSTEC 2018, the Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli made some key announcements about the Summit on August 28, 2018.

In his address to the Parliament, Oli informed lawmakers and other parliamentarians about the government-level preparations and agendas of the BIMSTEC Summit.

Stating that the Summit is being held under the theme ‘Towards Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region, Oli said the BIMSTEC 2018 will enhance economic cooperation and connectivity in key areas such as energy and transportation including railways and airways, among others.

Oli informed that the 2018 edition of BIMSTEC Summit has integrated two additional priority sectors—Blue Economy and Mountain Economy—to the existing 14 key areas that BIMSTEC already has in its list.

PM said the issues pertaining to trade, environment, connectivity and campaigns against organized crime will top the list of agendas in BIMSTEC 2018 meeting, which will also see the members agreeing upon a BIMSTEC Charter to address the same.

Oli expressed hope that the Summit will help Nepal in boosting its ties with neighbors & beyond, and also coordinate with world nations to fight poverty.

Visiting heads of various governments and BIMSTEC member nations will also hold meetings with President Bidya Devi Bhandari as part of their visit to BIMSTEC 2018, Oli added.

As Oli says, this is the first such meeting being organized after the formation of the new government post successful completion of the long-awaited three-tier elections.

“Though BIMSTEC should be held every two years, we are holding the meet for the fourth time, albeit it has been 20 years since BIMSTEC was established. We started preparations for the BIMSTEC meet after the formation of new government,” Oli told the Parliament.

The first BIMSTEC meet was held in Thailand in 1997, followed by the next one in India in 2008 and lastly in Myanmar in 2014.

Other Member Nations on BIMSTEC
According to the Indian External Foreign Affairs Ministry, BIMSTEC 2018 will also focus on counter- terrorism, enhancing regional connectivity and trade.

They feel that a push for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and regional connectivity will have a major role to play in the Summit.

We regard BIMSTEC as gateway to seas of littoral states as well as access for two land-locked member countries Bhutan and Nepal. For India, BIMSTEC is a natural choice to fulfil our key foreign policy priorities of neighbourhood first and act east policy, says Preeti Saran, Secretary East in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

As the reports say, members are little dissatisfied about the pace of progress pertaining to FTA.

Heads of Missions of the BIMSTEC member states have reportedly raised concerns over the same at a recently-held Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) seminar last week, stating that the BIMSTEC-FTA has not been concluded even after the framework finalization that happened 13 years ago.

“We need to find a way to deal with emerging powers in Indo-Pacific and regional groupings to provide strength in numbers. So, multilateralism is important. BIMSTEC and ASEAN can be part of Indo-Pacific regional architecture,” reads a statement by Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Ambassador of Thailand, reportedly made at a recent interaction on August 25, 2018.

The Government of Nepal has been high on preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit 2018 with tight intelligence and security measures. Let’s take a look:

High Security Measures for BIMSTEC 2018
As part of its security measures, the government is also deploying around 30,000 security forces to safeguard the BIMSTEC Summit.

The special forces include officials from the National Intelligence Department along with 8000 personnel from Nepali Army, 13,000 from Nepali Police and 6,000 Armed Police Force.
Security and transport sub-committee headed by the Home Ministry is working on detailed security plan in coordination with security forces.

On the other hand, special forces have already beefed up their security measures and vigilance check-ups across moving transport, border areas, Tribhuvan International Airport and major hotel stays.
The government is also preparing to declare no-fly-zone over the stays where the arriving foreign delegates would be residing at, a day ahead of the Summit.

“We are also conducting a threat analysis of VIPs. The Nepal Police, in close coordination with their counterparts of the participating nations, has taken a detailed account of the leaders’ activities in the last six months,” informed an official part of the security planning.

The government is also keeping a close watch on air traffic movement at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) beginning from August 29, 2018, in view of the VVIP arrivals for the Summit.

As traffic movement is expected to be affected, we are well prepared to keep the airport open 24 hours for two consecutive days if airlines ask us to do so,” informed Raj Kumar Chettri, General Manager of TIA. 

Chettri informed that the airport has already issued notices to the carriers about the VVIP movement.

According to TIA, the flight movement will be severely affected on August 30, 2018 due to the arrivals of the Heads of States from India, Bangladesh and Thailand.

“We are yet to confirm the date and time of the departure of the VVIPs. “We have aimed to process the first flights from 6am. Starting an hour early will ease traffic congestion to some extent, adds Chettri, who feels that that the impact could continue till September 01, 2018.

As part of health-related support, the government also formed the ‘Health Emergency and Disaster Management Unit’ that has a 11-member committee headed by the Ministry of Health & Population (MoHP) Secretary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary.

The country’s renowned Bir Hospital, in coordination with other local hospitals, has also set up temporary health camps along with Onsite Logistic Ambulance (OLA) on standby.

As part of safety and security measures, Nepal Government is also strengthening logistics and other aspects of management.

Overall, the government has reportedly invested around Rs 916,150 as part of health security procedures for the Summit and has also commanded 78 satellite hospitals to address emergency health issues.

Other Preparations

Meanwhile, the Government of Nepal has also made key announcements as part of its preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit 2018.

As the reports say, the government has reportedly asked the country’s top VIPs to handover their vehicles to assist the government in facilitating the safe and secure movement for the heads of different states during their visit to the country for the 4^th BIMSTEC Summit.

The list of VIPs includes Office of the President, the Office of the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Federal Parliament and National Assembly, Chief Justice, Ministers and Secretaries among others.

The government is also keen on buying private vehicles to suffice the requirements.

“We decided to make use of our own resources as such vehicles are expensive and will not be used frequently once the summit ends. Some of the vehicles are already being colored. Tinted glasses are being fit in all vehicles,” said an official.

Meanwhile, Indian Government has also stepped up its support to Nepal in its preparations for BIMSTEC Summit.

India lent three highly-sophisticated, fully-armoured cars to Nepal to be used for the heads of the states coming for Summit on August 30-31, 2018.

The Indian Aircraft C-17 on August 25, 2018 brought three BMW bulletproof cars from New Delhi to Kathmandu, which the Nepal Government will return post the Summit.

Following this, another Indian Aircraft IL-76 MD an additional armored vehicle to Kathmandu to be used for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his BIMSTEC visit.

The government has already fixed on some high-end vehicles, currently being used by Nepali ministers and other officials, for the visiting foreign ministers and secretaries. The special arrangements also include nine Mercedes Benz cars gifted by Qatar in 2016.

Learning from the past experiences from the past conferences, Nepal is planning big for this summit with a full-fledged assessment and security deployment, along with intelligence, emergency evacuation and action plan.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-Cha and President of Myanmar Win Myint are among key dignitaries attending the BIMSTEC Summit in Nepal.

BIMSTEC body, formed two years ago, acts as a sub-regional body with key focus on enhancing economic & technical cooperation among the southern and Southeast countries of Asia along the Bay of Bengal coast.

  Towards a stronger BIMSTEC         BIMSTEC Energy Outlook 2030

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This is evident in the role the country has been playing over the years towards conservation of endangered flora and fauna.

Contributing to the global efforts towards conservation of endangered species, Nepal’s Chitwan National Park (CNP) has taken a landmark decision of gifting 26 rhinoceros to the different nations.

In a new update, CNP has reportedly offered six rhinos: one to America, four to India and two each to Japan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Austria, Britain, China and Germany, informed Ved Prasad Dhakal, Chief Conservation Officer, CNP.

With the latest move, the number of rhinos CNP has gifted to world nations so far reached 30.

As per the records, CNP gave four of its rhinos to Dudhuwa of India for the first time in 1985, followed by another pair of rhinos to Austria in 2006, among others.

Prior to this, Nepal reportedly bought elephants from Myanmar, Thailand and India in exchange of rhinos.

According to the former Chief Conservation Officer Ramprit Yadav, Nepal has so far bought 16 elephants from India alone in exchange of rhinos, and the move of gifting rhinos is part of enhancing ties with the world nations.

The step also helps in boosting the world rhino population, he says, adding that it would be great if Nepal can get Panda from China in exchange of rhinos.

Besides rhinos, Nepal also gifted gharial and magar crocodiles to various countries.

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Nepal made it into finals after beating Indian and Bangladeshi teams in the matches played under round robin format.

In the final match of the tournament with India, Nepal defeated India by 59-38 and bagged the title in the men’s category. Nepal received Rs 50,000 in cash reward, while India returned with Rs 25,000 and Bangladesh with Rs 10,000.

Earlier the Nepali Wheelchair Basketball team had also won the women’s category title against Bangladesh in the two-team round.

Out of the three matches with Bangladesh, Nepal won two with Bangladesh bagging only victory.  Nepal received the winner’s check of Rs 50,000 while Bangladesh had to be content with the runners up prize of Rs 25,000.

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Recent floods affected more than 16 million population in South Asia and above 500 people together in Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), these floods are turning out to be one of the worst humanitarian crises in years.

“This is fast becoming one of the most serious humanitarian crises this region has seen in many years, and urgent action is needed to meet the growing needs of millions of people affected by these devastating floods. Millions of people across Nepal, Bangladesh and India face severe food shortages and disease caused by polluted flood waters,” said Martin Faller, IFRC Deputy Regional Director.

Martin further informed that one-third of Bangladesh and Nepal were inundated in floods and more than 11 million population were affected across northern parts of India.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General Dev Ratna Dhakhwa opined that the flood situation would likely result in food security challenges. “We fear that this destruction will lead to severe food shortages,” said Ratna Dhakhwa.

Relief Distribution Paces up in Mid-Western Nepal

Relief measures are fastly reaching flood victims of the four worst-hit districts of the mid-western Nepal. Undertaken by the District Natural Disaster Relief Committee, the government authorities are distributing cash, grams, rice grains, clothes and tents, among others to the victims affected by floods and landslides.

Various cluster groups formed under the DNDRC for overseeing education, health and sanitation, rehabilitation and relief distribution programmes have been sent to the villages struck by floods, informed Banke Chief District Officer (CDO) Ramesh Kumar KC.

Disease Break-out in Flood-hit Regions

Public across various flood-hit regions are suffering from severe health issues. The number of patients in the district hospital and other health centers of the district has increased.

Some have reportedly died of snake bite, diarrhea, common cold, among other problems.

According to Chuman Lal Das, Chief of District Public Health Office, patients suffering from diarrhea and common cold, among other diseases, increased in the flood-affected areas of the Siraha District. Health workers could treat patients as there was no dearth of medicines in the health facilities, Das informed.

On the other hand, hundreds of flood victims in Saptari are still waiting for relief packages. According to the locals, rice being distributed through helicopters is running out of stock and they were asked to borrow from their neighbors.

“We are compelled to live in hunger and our children have not eaten properly after the disaster, state presence is negligence,” said a local Bhutiya Devi Ram.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Development (MoAD) Secretary Suroj Pokhrel today informed that the Ministry is currently developing an immediate relief package to the flood-hit farmers of Tarai, which will be announced on August 23, 2017.

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