Cambodia, Nepal sign MoU to promote tourism

The Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA) and Tourism Agents Association signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today in Phnom Penh to promote joint tourism between the countries.
"The MoU signing marks another milestone of stronger cooperation between Cambodia and Nepal in the tourism industry,” said president of CATA Chhay Sivlin.
"Nepal is one of the choices among Cambodian people when they travel to religious sites," she said, adding that in Buddhism, Lumbini in Nepal is sacred because it was the birthplace of Buddha.
She said that last year some 2,505 Nepali tourists visited Cambodia. She was optimistic more Nepalis would head to Cambodia in the near future.
Likewise, director of the Nepal Tourism Board Bimal Kandel said that there were commonalities in the tourism sector of both countries. "These common factors make us feel like home in Cambodia,” he said, adding that about 100,000 Nepali tourists visited Southeast Asia last year and a similar number of tourists from the region visited Nepal. "Tourism is not only about food or entertainment but also about how we look at things."
In June, the Embassy of Nepal in Bangkok, which is concurrently accredited Cambodia, organised a tourism promotion event in Phnom Penh with the theme 'Nepal is Beautiful: Visit, and Enjoy in Nepal'.

UN Global Emergency Response Fund provides $4.8 million for flood affected

The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has announced $4.8 million new humanitarian funding to help address urgent needs amongst flood affected communities in the Terai.
"The CERF is one of the fastest ways that the UN has to support people affected by crises,” UN Resident Coordinator Valerie Julliand said. "These funds will allow the Humanitarian Country Team through UN agencies and their partners to quickly scale-up their urgent activities and deliver additional shelter, food, critical health care and more to 700,000 people," he said, adding that the latest disaster has impacted already vulnerable and poor regions of Nepal including areas of the Terai which were affected by major flooding in 2014. "Schools, medical centres and houses have been destroyed and large areas of crops washed away."
Immediate assistance is now needed to help people recover and to prevent a further worsening of the humanitarian situation," Julliand added. "The rapid allocation from the CERF is hugely important and my appreciation goes to all donors to the fund whose support will help to reduce human suffering and to restore dignity."
At least 66 persons were killed and 35 were injured in the floods and landslides triggered by torrential rainfall in various parts of the country in August last month.
According to the Home Ministry, hundreds of families have been displaced after floodwaters gushed into human settlements in most parts of the Terai region.
Panchthar, Ilam, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Siraha, Rautahat, Mahottari,  Sindhuli, Bara, Parsa, Makawanpur, Chitwan and Lalitpur are some of the most flood-affected districts.

MDBs increase 2016 financing to tackle climate challenge, South Asia gets largest chunk

The world’s six largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) continued to make a strong contribution to the global climate challenge in 2016, increasing their climate financing in developing countries and emerging economies last year to $27.4 billion from $25 billion in 2015.
Of the total, $21.2 billion or 77 per cent was dedicated to climate mitigation finance, with the remaining 23 per cent devoted to climate adaptation.
Combined with additional co-financing from other investors, the total amount of finance mobilised for climate action reached $65.3 billion last year.
The MDBs have reported jointly on climate finance since 2011. Collectively, the banks have committed over $158 billion in climate finance during the past 6 years.
The latest MDB climate finance figures are detailed in the 2016 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance, combining data from the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group.
"ADB acknowledges MDB’s pivotal role in providing climate finance and remains committed to strengthen its collaboration with other MDBs and ultimately to the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement,” ADB vice president for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Bambang Susantono said, adding that the ADB has recently approved its Climate Change Operational Framework 2030, which will guide in enhancing resilience and strengthening climate actions in the Asia and Pacific region.
Broken down by region, the largest share of last year’s MDB climate finance went to South Asia, with 20 per cent, followed by East Asia and the Pacific and non-EU Europe and Central Asia, with 19 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively. The Middle East and North Africa, at 9 per cent and Sub-Saharan Africa, at 7 per cent, received the least climate finance.
The MDBs also reported again on climate finance according to financial instrument. The vast majority of finance, or 73 per cent, was provided in the form of investment loans.
The MDBs’ methodologies for climate finance tracking align with the Common Principles for Climate Change Mitigation Finance Tracking, jointly agreed by the MDBs and by the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), and first published in March 2015.
The MDBs and the IDFC agreed on the Common Principles for Climate Adaptation Finance Tracking in July 2015. The MDBs and the IDFC have begun taking the next steps to harmonize their approaches in tracking adaptation finance.
The MDBs are continuing to work to update their joint tracking methodologies for mitigation and adaptation to support the goals of the Paris Agreement, playing a key role in defining the finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate resilient development.
ADB – based in Manila – is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB is celebrating 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members, 48 from the region. In 2016, ADB assistance totaled $31.7 billion, including $14 billion in co-financing.

Central bank to exchange new banknotes from next week

The central bank will exchange the old bank notes with the new ones for Dashain festival from September 13.
According to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the exchange of old banknotes with crisp new bills of smaller denominations through the branch offices of Nepal Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank and Agricultural Development Bank. However, the public can avail new currency notes worth only Rs 20,000 from the outlets of these banks.
According to the central bank, people can exchange banknotes from Nepal Bank's New Road, Balaju, Patan Industrial Estate, Kirtipur and Bhaktapur branch offices; and Rastriya Banijya Bank's Singhdurbar Plaza Bhawan, Teku, New Baneshwar, Sano Thimi, Bishal Bazaar and Naxal branches, while Agriculture Development Bank's Gaushala, Koteshwar, Ramshah Path, Ratnapark and Mangal Bazaar branch offices will also distribute new bank notes to the public.
Similarly, the central bank will also provide exchange service through its own exchange counters from September 13.
People can exchange small denominated bills of up to Rs 27,000 per person. "One can get crisp bills of only 100-piece bundle of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100 denominations," the central bank informed, adding that it has reduced the upper limit of cash that an individual can exchange this year. "Last year, the NRB had provided exchange facility for up to Rs 32,000 per person."
The demand for new banknotes goes up in the festive season due to customary practice of offering new banknotes while giving blessings, the central bank has been providing exchange service to the public.
The central bank has also said that it would provide exchange facility to constitutional bodies and other government agencies from September 7 to September 15. Representatives of constitutional bodies, various offices of the government, public corporations, Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, among others, can get new bank notes by producing official recommendation letters.
According to the central bank, the exchange facility of new notes will also be available from the private financial institutions.
Joint spokesperson of the central bank Rajendra Pandit said that private banks and financial institutions can exchange notes from the currency management division of the central bank from Wednesday (September 6) onward.

With 22 per cent population, South Asia has only 1.3 per cent of world’s income

While South Asia houses 22 per cent of the world’s population, the region, however, has only 1.3 per cent of the world’s income, according to a report.
Sharing some of the findings of the triennial report on the poverty scenario in South Asian countries – produced by the Nepal-based South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) – released at the Institute for Development Communication (IDC), today regional coordinator of SAAPE Prof Netra Timsina, said that the idea that the market will correct imbalances through demand and supply has led to the gradual withdrawal of the state from publicly providing services such as education and health.
A Chandigarh-based study circle, ‘Dialogue Highway’, in collaboration with the IDC, facilitated the release of the report.
"The SAAPE report, in its essence, brings out the failure of South Asian countries to lift their masses out of poverty and withdrawal of the state from providing basic needs such as food, education, health and safety to the people at the margins,” Dialogue Highway managing trustee Devinder Sharma said.
SAAPE is a regional platform of civil society organisations, social movements and people’s network fighting against the structural causes of poverty and social injustice in the region and beyond.
While launching its fifth Poverty Report, SAAPE, which has been publishing the triennial South Asia Poverty Report since 2003, questioned the existing development paradigm. This report is a knowledge document that brings out the commonality of experiences of all South Asian countries.
Punjabi University vice chancellor Prof BS Ghuman said that the report should form the part of the policy planning. "A social audit of poverty alleviation programmes should also be included in the process to assess the results of poverty eradication," he said, adding that the policy should not be top down but participatory.
In a scholarly exposition, IDC director Dr Pramod Kumar said the state had been usurped by the market and the people at the margins do not have a voice.

Alleged Dawood Ibrahim aide becomes a mayoral candidate in Birgunj

A man alleged to have close ties to fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is a mayoral candidate in Birgunj sub–metropolitan city.
Today the main opposition party CPN-UML announced Basaruddhin Ansari’s candidature for the third phase of local polls that is slated for September 18.
Ansari – a controversial figure who owns National Medical College in Birgunj and Kathmandu – is believed to be close to Dawood, the notorious don. It is alleged that Dawood has invested millions of rupees into the colleges that Ansari owns.
After Ansari’s candidature was announced, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba instructed Tribhuvan University (TU) to scrap the affiliation of National College – that has neither students nor faculty, students or patients – at a rented apartment building at Anam Nagar in Kathmandu. The CPN-UML chairman KP Oli, however, immediately hit back, calling the decision 'unfair' and 'unjust'.
According to reports, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu has made several correspondents to the government through the ministry of foreign affairs to probe Ansari’s properties.
In its letter, the embassy has written that it has credible information that National Medical College, Birgunj received a large investment from Dawood, and under the UN Security Council Resolution number 1526, the property should be seized.
Following the embassy’s request some 12 years ago, the foreign ministry had forwarded the letter to the ministry of home affairs.
The government had – after the request from the Indian embassy – formed a probe committee but Ansari refused to assist them, saying that they did not have authority to probe his property and threatened to move the Supreme Court.
However, according to Ansari, he has long faced similar charges and claimed he was feeling 'insecure' as a mayoral candidate, though he did not disclose the reason for feeling threatened. 

Flooding in Nepal affecting 680k children: UNICEF

About 1.7 million people, including 680,000 children, have been affected with 352,738 displaced from their homes and are in urgent need of life-saving support due to 'catastrophic' flooding in Nepal, according to a UN agency said.
Likewise, more than 185,126 homes have been damaged or destroyed in addition to 1,958 schools, affecting the education of 253,605 children in Nepal, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
About 16 million children across India, Bangladesh and Nepal are in urgent need of life-saving support due to 'catastrophic' flooding in the three South Asian countries. "Millions of children have seen their lives swept away by these devastating floods" said Jean Gough, UNICEF regional director for South Asia. "Children have lost their homes, schools and even friends and loved ones," she said, adding that there is a danger the worst could still be to come as rains continue and flood waters move south.
Weeks of torrential monsoon rains and catastrophic flooding in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh have devastated the lives of millions of children and families. UNICEF estimates that almost 16 million children and their families are in urgent need of life-saving support.
Many areas remain inaccessible due to damage to roads, bridges, railways and airports. The most urgent needs for children are clean water, hygiene supplies to prevent the spread of disease, food supplies and safe places in evacuation centres for children to play, the UN agency said.
The UNICEF is on the ground working in close coordination with respective governments and humanitarian partners from three countries to scale up its responses and respond to immediate needs of affected children and their families.
"Massive damage to school infrastructure and supplies also mean hundreds of thousands of children may miss weeks or months of school" Gough said, adding that getting children back into school is absolutely critical in establishing a sense of stability for children during times of crisis and provides a sense of normality when everything else is being turned upside down.