23 Nepalis bag Australia Awards Scholarships

The Australian Government has offered 23 Australia Awards Scholarships to emerging leaders from Nepal to study at Australia’s world-class educational institutions in 2020. “Of the 23 awardees for 2020, 14 are from the public sector and 11 are female recipients,” reads a press note issued by the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu. “One applicant with disability has also been selected for the scholarship.”
These Australia Awards scholars were selected through a competitive process taking into account their academic and professional achievements, leadership qualities and most importantly their potential to drive positive change in support of Nepal’s national development,” said Australia’s ambassador to Nepal Peter Budd, at an event organised to bid farewell to the scholars.
Australia Awards scholars gain a quality education in Australia, advance their knowledge and build networks across a range of areas, including economic development, education, gender equality, disability inclusiveness and social inclusion, governance and water resource management. Many alumni of the Australia Awards go on to hold senior positions in business and government on their return home.
“The degree that I have obtained through Australia Award has enriched my analytical capacity,” an Australia Awards alumna Indu Ghimire said, adding that the award, additionally, has also supported her to expand her horizon of thinking to solve public sector issues by using various method of problem analysis. Ghimire is joint secretary at the Home Ministry.
Scholarships have been a key feature of Australia’s foreign policy since the Colombo Plan of the 1950s. Since then, more than 100,000 men and women from around the world have received an Australian Government scholarship to study in Australia, the press note reads, adding that more than 1,000 Nepalis have pursued study and research in Australia under the Australia Awards Scholarships. “The next cycle of Australia Awards Scholarships will open on February 2020.”

Australian Embassy provides financial assistance to nine projects

Embassy of Australia today provided direct financial assistance worth Rs 13.93 million to some nine non-government organisations (NGOs) under the embassy’s Direct Aid Programme 2013-14.

Australia’s ambassador to Nepal Glenn White presented cheques of financial assistance to the representatives of the nine organisations during a programme at the Embassy here today.

Australian Embassy, through its Direct Aid Programme, has been funding projects related to health and sanitation, education, and media development in the country.

Nepal Australia Cervical Cancer Foundation, Banepa; Siddhi Memorial Hospital, Bhaktapur; Tamakoshi Cooperative Hospital, Manthali; Nepal Labour Journalists’ Association, Kathmandu; Green Pasture Hospital, Pokhara; Gokuleshwor Multiple Campus, Darchula; Maiti Nepal, Kathmandu;  National Human Right Protection Forum for the Disabled, Kathmandu; and Reiyukai Eiko Masunga Eye Hospital, Banepa are the receipient of the assistance.

Ambassador White, on the occasion, said that the Australian government provides the financial assistance to help communities and projects which have a clear humanitarian or development theme.

The embassy had received some 95 proposals for the financial assistance and the nine were chosen from among them.

Nepal slips to 121st from 96th as business destination

Nepal slipped 25 places down to rank 121st on the list of the world's best countries for business, compiled by the Forbes. Nepal lost ground in areas like property rights, innovation, technology, red tapism and personal freedom.
Nepal has moved down from its previous 96th position in Forbes' annual list, which ranks 127 nations on the basis of business climate in a country for entrepreneurs, investors and workers. Denmark topped the chart -- for the consecutive second year -- followed by the US that saw an improvement from last year's fourth position.
"This is not a tally of economies with high gross domestic product (GDP) growth, or low unemployment. The goal is to quantify for entrepreneurs and investors the often-qualified information about dynamic economies and what they would consider desirable conditions for business," said the Forbes.
In the South Asian region, all other countries except Bangladesh slipped from their last year's position. India has slipped 11 places to rank 75th while Sri Lanka slipped to 83rd postion from last year's 67th. Pakistan slipped to 101st spot from last year's 83rd. However, Bangladesh moved up four places to 106th position from last year's 110th.
All the South Asian countires posted a negative performance in personal freedom and increased red tapism. But amazingly, Nepal has done better in protection of investors' interests in comparison to other South Asian countries, where they have dismal performance, according to Forbes.
Canada and Singapore moved up four places each to number three and four respectively. Other countries in the top 10 this year include New Zealand, the UK, Sweden, Australia, Hong Kong and Norway. New Zealand, Australia and Norway joined the top 10 list this year while Finland, Ireland and Switzerland were dislodged from this league.
Big movers included New Zealand (no 5, seven places up), followed by Jordan (no 33, 28 places up), Australia (no 8, five places up), the UAE (no 46, 28 places up) and Malaysia (no 25, 13 places up).
According to the report, Nepal has considerable scope for exploiting its potential in hydropower and tourism, areas of recent foreign investment interest. "Prospects for foreign trade or investment in other sectors will remain poor, however, because of the small size of the economy, its technological backwardness, its remoteness, its landlocked geographic location, civil strife and its susceptibility to natural disaster," said Forbes that gives more points to personal freedom.
Amid financial turmoil this year, Forbes added stock market performance to reflect the extent of disrepair in countries' banking systems as well as investor confidence in a recovery. Intellectual property rights, the promotion of free trade and low inflation, combined with low taxes on income and investment, give a snapshot of the conditions for business in each.
Sliding down the most this year was Ireland (no 14, 12 places down), which even saw plans for a Guinness mega-brewery shelved by parent Diageo as exports slowed. Uruguay (no 66, 22 places down), Armenia (no 94, 31 places down), Paraguay (no 99, 29 places down) and Latvia (no 45, 13 places down) rounded out this year's losers.


Nepal's score-card
Trade Freedom - 113
Monetary Freedom - 43
Property Rights - 92 (down)
Innovation - 120 (down)
Technology - 123 (down)
Red Tapism - 79 (down)
Investor Protection - 48
Corruption - 96
Personal Freedom - 94 (down)
Tax Burden - 71
Market Performance - Not Available