In line with the Nepal Air Corporation’s (NAC) plans, the new decision envisages signing of new agreement with Australia and revising of the existing aviation agreements with UAE and Thailand. 

According to Pramod Nepal, Undersecretary at the Nepal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA),  Nepal and Australia have already signed deals to operate seven weekly flights. 

“We have been holding talks with Australia to sign our first MoU regarding ASA. We have received positive response from the Australian Government on the draft MoU. We are in the process of preparing a final MoU based on the feedback and hope to sign the ASA very soon,” says Pramod. 

Under the deal, Nepali airlines has been allowed to fly its planes across Australian cities such as Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. 

Flights to Australia have become more viable in recent years as the number of Nepali students pursuing their academics in Australia and the number of Australian tourists visiting Nepal have both gone up, adds Pramod.

Revisiting the Existing
In another update, Nepal is also gearing up to sign a revised MoU with UAE to boost the air traffic between the two countries, which is currently at 28 flights per week. 

Signed for the first time in 1999, Nepal and UAE revisited the agreements and signed the revised MoUs in 2013 and 2015. 

Meanwhile, the government is under plans to discuss with Thailand about the revision of the existing ASA between the two countries.  

The Nepal-Thai air deal was first signed in 1971 to allow Nepali flights fly to Thailand and was again revisited in 2004 increasing the number of Nepali flights to Thailand to 10 in number. 

“We expect the revised agreement to be ready in the near future,” says Pramod. 

Riding High on Air Agreements
The latest updates are coming as a development after NAC received its first-ever 274-seater Airbus A330-200 series wide-body aircraft from AAR Corporation, very recently. 

The Corporation is also set to receive it’s another such aircraft later in July 2018 and plans to have two narrow-body aircraft by 2019 adding to its international fleet. 

So far, Nepal has signed bilateral ASAs with 38 countries, which facilitates ways for Nepali airlines to operate 214 flights per day to and from various destinations. As government officials say, Nepal has been able to operate only 40 percent of these flights due to less number of carriers. 

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Here are some of the key highlights of Nepal with regard to immigration and labor migration:

Immigration

Despite many challenges, Nepal took some key decisions towards ensuring safety of Nepali migrants working in foreign destinations in 2017.

Few countries with which Nepal signed key pacts related to labor cooperation include Bahrain, Jordan, Korea, Qatar, Japan, Kuwait, among others.

While Nepalese form the largest South Asian and the sixth largest migrant populace in Japan, there was a steady rise in number of Nepali migrants in Japan every year over the last decade.

Nepalese also form the fastest growing migrant community in Australia at an annual growth rate of 27 percent, and Nepali is the second most-spoken language other than English in the state of Tasmania.

However, the Australian Government’s decision to abolish the 457 Visa Scheme for skilled migrants is likely to affect Nepalis planning to move to Australia for work. With this, beginning March 2018, prospective Nepali immigrants will need to undergo the new Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa program involving a two-year short-term and a four-year medium term.

Meanwhile, in support of Nepali migrant workers, the Nepali Health Ministry has also announced plans to introduce the National Migration Health Policy.

“This policy will provide an opportunity to promote a more coherent and integrated approach to heal, beyond the treatment of specific diseases for all populations, including migrants, irrespective of their legal and migratory status,” says Paul Norton, Chief of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Nepal.

Towards skill development for migrants, the Labor Ministry of Nepal has also requested the International Labor Organization (ILO) to initiate result-oriented projects in the country.

Highlighting that the Nepali youth migrating for foreign employment are in need of skill development programs, the Secretary at the Nepali Ministry of Labor and Employment Laxman Prasad Mainali had also urged ILO Director to ensure safety of Nepali migrant labor working at foreign destinations.

Mainali made this proposal as part of his participation at the 331^st governing board meeting of ILO held in Geneva in the first week of November 2017.

As a major immigration-related update in 2017, the Nepali Government announced passports to the foreign-born Nepali children. The government took an official decision in this regard at a council of ministers meeting held in Kathmandu on September 11, 2017.

Other Key Highlights

In a major update to the world, Nepal also joined the list of countries that signed the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty in 2017.

Nepal singed the treaty on September 21, 2017 as part of its participation at the 72^nd UNGA session in New York.

“It is a good step towards nuclear disarmament”, said the Nepali Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Bharat Raj Paudyal as he informed that Nepal’s stand on the disarmament of weapons causing mass destruction remains consistent and principled.

On the similar occasion, Nepal also won its long-awaited UN Human Rights Council membership. UN declared Nepal as UNHRC member on October 16, 2017 for the 2018-2020 term.

“Nepal’s first-ever election to the Council would be a recognition to the country’s long commitment and contribution in the field of human rights and an encouragement to do more at national as well as global levels,” says Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Making a conservation history, Nepal, in August 2017, became the first country to launch climate-smart snow leopard landscape management plan, leading the way in safeguarding its endangered species and habitat, ahead of the International Snow Leopard Summit and Ecosystem Forum in Kyrgyzstan.

In another major update related to conservation of endangered species, Nepal has also released its six captive-reared critically-endangered species of white-rumped vultures into the wild on November 9, 2017.

Besides, in a move towards tiger conservation, Nepal joined India for a first-of-its-kind exercise to estimate tiger population in both the countries.

These are some of the key among various other updates related to Nepal in 2017.

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Here are some key highlights of culture and tourism related updates of Nepal in 2017:

Culture

Culture is one important area that describes Nepal as a whole.

In a move promoting its culture, Nepal, in 2017, discussed and signed key agreements to strengthen cultural ties with its ally countries.

Very recently, Sri Lanka and Nepal entered into an agreement to boost cultural tourism between the two countries.

Taking ahead the Indo-Nepal cultural ties, a group of pilgrims recently began their 2-week long pilgrimage to India.

Apart from the above, Nepal celebrated its famous annual festivals such as Dashain, Tihar, Kanya Puja, Gaijatra, Indra Jatra, Janai Purnima, Krishna Janmashtami, among others.

Tourism

Tourism is one important area of focus for Nepal owing to the country’s dependence on tourism revenue.

Despite major natural calamities such as 2015 earthquake, floods in August 2017, among others, Nepali tourism regained its strength in 2017 aiming at a million tourists’ arrival target by the end of 2017.

October 2017 alone witnessed the all-time high of 112,492 tourist arrivals and November was estimated to have more than 130,000 tourists breaking all the past records.

Nepal tourism had gone to a six-year low registering only 538,970 foreign visitors earlier. However, the latest figures over the rise of tourist arrivals appeared as an encouragement to the country’s tourism industry.

Meanwhile, a survey spotted a rise in women mountaineers to Mount Everest, once again proving Nepal’s status as the global destination for adventure sports.

With the rise in tourism activity, Nepal is undergoing a complete transformation in terms of infrastructure and is heading for the completion of key infrastructure projects.

Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and Lumbini’s Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) are among two infrastructure projects that were deferred until 2019.

Upgradation of Bhairahawa airport, the gateway to the pilgrimage destination of Lumbini in south central Nepal, expansion of the Narayanghat-Mugling road, Kathmandu Ring Road Improvement Project and the reconstruction of monuments & heritage sites (damaged in the 2015 earthquake) are among other key projects that are set to offer needed boost the country’s tourism sector.

Besides, Nepal is also witnessing a lot of hotel construction activity, which is expected to add 4,000 star category rooms to the country by 2020. A dozen hotels are investing more than Rs 40 billion in the Nepali hotel industry.

World Travel Market 2017 is one major event that proved what Nepal means to the world tourism, wherein, a large number of business leaders expressed interest to invest in and collaborate with the Nepali tourism industry.

To overcome the existing drawbacks and offer a better Nepal, the Government of Nepal has postponed its major tourism event Visit Nepal Year 2018 Campaign to 2020 that aims at attracting 1.5 million tourists.

“As we had little time to make preparations for the national campaign, we have decided to reschedule it. However, the ministry will launch a massive marketing campaign in 2019 before starting Visit Nepal Year 2020,” says Ghanshyam Upadhyaya, Tourism Ministry Spokesperson.

In a major announcement to Nepal mountain tourism and dependent communities, the Government of Nepal has also established the Nepal Mountain Academy to ensure high-level education courses in mountaineering.

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Fighting back social challenges and natural calamities, Nepal, in 2017, made major strides in almost all areas including inclusive development, industry and commerce, economy, politics, human rights, among various others.

Here are some of the key highlights of major developments in Nepal in 2017:

Bilateral Ties and Key Pacts

2017 has been a prosperous year for Nepal in building its image in the global arena through diplomatic ties.

On December 19, 2017, Nepal completed 60 years of its diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka.

US Ambassador to Nepal Alaina B Teplitz (In Right)

The United States Embassy also celebrated 70 years of US-Nepal bilateral relationship on December 13, 2017.

Besides strengthening existing ties, Nepal also began its diplomatic relations with nations such as State of Eretria, Uganda and Kingdom of Bahamas.

Very recently, a new friendship association to boost Nepal-Myanmar diplomatic ties was also formed. The Myanmar-Nepal Friendship Association is the first such group formed since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1960.

Nepal also signed bilateral partnerships with various countries for cooperation across different sectors.

Nepali Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and the Ambassador of Morocco to Nepal Mohamed Maliki signed a MoU for the formation of a bilateral consultation mechanism between Nepal and Morocco on August 3, 2017.

Nepal has also signed a Bilateral Labor Agreement with Jordan on October 18, 2017.

         Indian Businessmen Invited to Invest in Nepal

The Government of India also promised its investment in the Nepali industry.

In response, the Government of Nepal has very recently welcomed the Indian business community to invest in Nepal.

“It’s an opportune time to invest in Nepal with bilateral trade on the upswing,” says Embassy of Nepal Charge d’Affairs Bharat Kumar Regmi.

Japan and the United States also promised assistance and funding for the development of Nepali education sector.

In a move enhancing its diplomatic ties with Nepal, the Parliament of Brazil has also formed a six-member Brazil-Nepal Parliamentary Group.

This is the first such Group in the history of Nepal-Brazil ties and is formed as a result of the recently-approved statute to promote inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

In a recent meeting on December 25, 2017, Oman and Nepal discussed bilateral cooperation across various sectors, wherein, the Under Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of Oman Ahmed Hassan Al-Dheeb welcomed collaboration with the Nepali business community across various sectors.

Earlier, Nepal had also expressed willingness to send its labor to work in Oman thus enhancing the Oman-Nepal labor cooperation.

With an aim to boost the Nepal-Austria bilateral ties, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (AFEC) had also signed a MoU on October 31, 2017.

The new collaboration will focus on enhancing private sector collaboration for promoting trade, commerce and technology transfer between the two countries.

Here, it is noteworthy that the leftist alliance, which will form the next Nepali Government, has recently announced that the new Nepali Government will maintain Nepal’s diplomatic relations with neighboring nations based on independent foreign policy.

Politics

2017 has changed the political landscape of Nepal and has, in fact, emerged as the game-changer year for the country.

Local-level polls and legislative polls, the most-awaited elections for Nepal and its citizens, were successfully held in 2017. These elections were held in the country for the first time in the last 20 years.

The local polls were held in three phases with the first two phases on May 14 and June 28, and the third phase on September 18, 2017.

Another major milestone for Nepal is the two-phase country’s parliamentary and provincial polls held on November 26, 2017 and December 7, 2017, respectively. In this election, Nepali politics saw major political shifts with the Communist alliance winning the game finally to form the next government.

Interestingly, the red flag (left parties) registered grand victory in both the landmark polls of Nepal.

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