KOICA marks 30 years in Nepal with $29 million grant agreement

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) celebrated three decades of development partnership in Nepal with a commemorative event 'Together for 30 Years: A Journey of Trust and Cooperation' today in Kathmandu, with signing three agreements worth $29 million grant.

The most important session of the event was the signing of three major project agreements that mark KOICA’s strategic priorities for the years ahead, according to a press note issued by the KOICA. 

The first was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between finance secretary Ghanshyam Upadhyaya and ambassador of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nepal Park Tae-young for the establishment of the Gandaki Institute of Technology, a $9 million project to be implemented from 2025 to 2030.

It was followed by Record of Discussion (RoD) signings for two new projects. The Value Chain Development Project (Phase II) in Lumbini Province, with the budget of $10 million to be initiated from 2025 to 2031 signed between joint secretary of Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr Hari Bahadur KC and country director of KOICA Mooheon Kong. Similarly, the establishment of the Sudurpaschim Polytechnic Institute -- with the budget of $10 million was also signed between joint secretary of Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Shiva Kumar Sapkota and country director of KOICA Mooheon Kong -- that is scheduled for implementation between 2025 and 2030.

On the occasion, KOICA Nepal Country Director Mooheon Kong emphasised KOICA’s enduring partnership with Nepal and its unwavering commitment to inclusive and sustainable development. He highlighted the agency’s focus on supporting local capacity building and fostering innovation across key sectors such as education, health, agriculture, and governance.

The joint secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bhrigu Dhungana highlighted the long-standing friendship and cooperation between Nepal and the Republic of Korea, emphasising KOICA’s invaluable contributions in areas such as education, health, agriculture, and capacity building. He expressed appreciation for KOICA’s role in strengthening bilateral relations and supporting Nepal’s sustainable development goals. He also conveyed the ministry’s commitment to deepening this partnership in the future, envisioning even greater collaboration in advancing prosperity and resilience in Nepal.

Likewise, ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Nepal Park Tae-young, on the occasion, noted that KOICA’s 30-year journey in Nepal reflects the deep-rooted friendship and mutual trust between the two nations. He emphasised Korea’s continued commitment to supporting Nepal’s socio-economic development and highlighted the new project agreements as a symbol of shared progress and future cooperation.

Mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan City and Chief Guest of the event Dhana Raj Acharya congratulated KOICA on its milestone anniversary and praised its impactful contribution across diverse sectors. He commended KOICA’s strategic alignment with Nepal’s national development goals and reaffirmed the government's readiness to work closely with KOICA to expand the reach and sustainability of future programmes.

As KOICA reflects on its three decades of development engagement in Nepal, it renews its commitment to building a more inclusive, resilient, and prosperous future in close partnership with the government and local communities, according to KOICA.

Since 1991, the Government of the Republic of Korea, through KOICA, has been a key development partner of Nepal, supporting various sectors such as health, education, agriculture, vocational training, rural development, IT, and tourism. KOICA has dispatched 2,921 volunteers to government institutions across the country. Additionally, over 2,230 Nepali officials have participated in KOICA’s fellowship programmes.

KOICA collaborates with businesses, CSOs, universities, and foreign agencies to help Nepal achieve its SDGs. Since Nepal was designated a priority country for KOICA in 2010, support has significantly increased, and by 2025, KOICA’s total assistance surpassed $200 million. This progress has been further strengthened through a framework agreement on development cooperation, reinforcing the strong and growing friendship between the two nations.

UNDP urges swift action and new directions to advance Asia-Pacific's Human Development

The Asia-Pacific region is lurching towards an era of unmet aspirations, worsening inequalities, and a steady erosion of democratic spaces. Rising global tensions, new technologies, growing polarisation, and existential threats linked to climate change threaten to disrupt improvements in well-being the region has seen in past decades, according to a new report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The 2024 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report, launched today, paints a qualified picture of long-term progress, but also persistent disparity and widespread disruption, foreseeing a turbulent development landscape and urgently calling for new directions to boost human development.

Titled Making our Future: new directions for Human Development in Asia and the Pacific, "that unmet aspirations, heightened human insecurity, and a potentially more turbulent future create an urgent need for change," the report warns that the region faces three converging ‘risk clusters’, ranging from existential threats due to climate change and future pandemics, economic headwinds from shifting globalisation patterns and automation, and a flagging pace of reform due to diminishing democratic spaces, rising populism, and polarisation.

While the region will account for two-thirds of global economic growth this year, income and wealth disparities are worsening, particularly in South Asia, where the wealthiest 10 per cent control over half of total income. 

More than 185 million people continue to live in extreme poverty – earning below $2.15 a day – a number that is expected to climb higher following the economic shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, the report reads.

“The report underscores that to overcome existing challenges, we must prioritise investments in human development, with an understanding that each nation will tailor its own pathways to do so,” said UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific Kanni Wignaraja. “By fostering a people-first policy and smart growth strategies that put a high value on natural assets, we can pave the way for a future that is not only more secure and peaceful but also sustainable and prosperous for many millions more."

To bring about that change the Report calls for three new directions in human development: to put people at the heart of development, to recalibrate growth strategies to generate more jobs and respect the environment, and to focus relentlessly on the politics of reform and the science of delivery to turn ideas into practice.

It also provides a panoramic view of how in an uncertain future, countries can revitalize development strategies to close existing inequality gaps and reduce human insecurity.

A people-centered strategy must start by expanding choice for everyone by, among other things, tackling structural exclusion, upholding human dignity, and building capability. Tackling structural exclusion is not only the ‘right thing to do,’ it could also produce large economic benefits. Promoting women's equality alone could boost the region's collective annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $4.5 trillion by 2025, the report further reads.

With external market conditions becoming more competitive, a razor-sharp focus on competitiveness and diversification is essential. The Report also highlights new areas of economic opportunity in the low carbon ‘green economy’ and in technologies, and the region’s rich marine resources that can be optimized and sustained through new technology and investment as part of the blue economy, which is especially important for Small Island Developing States.

"The call for economic growth should be louder, not quieter, as growth remains essential for human development,” UNDP’s chief economist for Asia and the Pacific, and the principal author of the Report, Philip Schellekens said, adding that facing growing headwinds to growth and job creation and the prospect of further disruption, it is time to recalibrate both export-led and domestically oriented growth strategies.

The region’s large informal workforce—about 1.3 billion people—is being left behind, with many workers trapped in low-quality jobs because the formal sector has failed to offer decent employment opportunities. And the region has seen a steady reversal in democratic practices, to a degree last seen in the late 1970s, the report notes, with the pandemic enabling governments to further tighten restrictions on civil liberties. 

To chart a new course, governments would need to be future fit to combat the challenges to come.  It unpacks how a greater focus on making change happen would be rooted in leadership and governance that is more anticipatory, more adaptable, and more agile.

UNDP is the leading United Nations organisation fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

Over 200 startups participate in BizStart 2019

Google Business Group Nepal chapter held the second edition of BizStart 2019 today in Kathmandu to provide a platform for startup companies. According to the organiser, some 210 startups participated in the one-day event that saw over 10,000 visitors.
“Our main aim is to provide a platform to the startups so that they get an opportunity to find investment, business and networks,” said manager at Google Business Group Nepal chapter Amit Agrawal. Besides the exhibition, the organiser also conducted a training session on developing entrepreneurship skills for entrepreneurs. Last year, a total of 100 startup companies participated in the event.
‘Even unregistered startup companies participated in the event as there is no fee to join and visitors can enter for free,’ Agrawal said, adding that the startups showcased their ideas, from using drones to irrigate farms, reviving analogue music to creating customised tour packages. “Some were working on robotics, recycling, food business, health, apparel and developing mobile apps.”
Google Business Group has been organising the event on an annual basis to bring entrepreneurs and startup-founders together from around the country under one roof. Besides displaying their products and services, startups also get an opportunity to learn new strategies and expand their businesses with Google’s technology, said the organiser. “The changing business environment in the country and rise of successful startups have inspired youths to set up their own companies,” he said, adding that the government needs to do more to encourage startups.

Fifth TIFA council meeting next month

The fifth meeting of the Nepal-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council is scheduled for December 12 in Kathmandu.
The meeting expected to take forward the issues of bilateral trade that have been under discussion was supposed to take in June in Kathmandu, but the US postponed the meeting showing dissatisfaction on Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act brought hastily before Nepal Investment Summit 2019.
“The US expressed dissatisfaction on the government move for not considering their involvement while drafting the act,” informed a source at the Industry Ministry. “The US has long been expressing its concern over the investment environment in Nepal to inject capital from American investors,” he said, adding that the US did not even reply to several letters forwarded by the ministry to fix the date for TIFA meeting.
Nepal signed the TIFA with the USA on April 16, 2011. Under the provision, the two countries had agreed to hold the TIFA council meeting every year. The last meeting was held in the US on November 13, 2018. Now, the meeting will be held in Kathmandu, according to the agreement.
Nepal has been repeatedly asking the US to revise the lists of goods under duty free access that the US has been providing to Nepal. The US has been providing duty-free access to 77 Nepali products including certain carpets and pashmina, headgear, shawls, scarves and travel items – through its Trade Preferences Act (TPA) in 2015 – that have high potential in the US market until 2025.
One of the products that Nepal has been demanding duty-free access with the US is readymade garments. The US used to be the largest buyer of Nepali readymade garments till 2000. But the export dropped from $171.39 million in 2003 – after the US government stopped providing duty-free, quota-free market access to Nepali products – to Rs 4.18 billion in the last fiscal year.

Certificate of Origin to be issued online

Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) will be issuing Certificates of Origin (CoO) through online.
The NCC today organised a soft launch of the online system, whereas the FNCCI and CNI have already launched the system to make it easier for the exporters. CoO is necessary for the exporters to certify that the exportable products are originated from Nepal.
“Earlier, the traders had to wait for the office hours to issue the certificate,” NCC president Rajesh Kaji Shrestha said, adding that with the beginning of online system, the process can be completed within few hours during any time of the day.
“Though the online is yet to be integrated with payment mechanism, it will be collaborating with digital payment platforms like e-Sewa and Khalti soon,” according to Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) that has developed the online system of CoO for the FNCCI, CNI, and NCC. “The traders have to pay through banks and attach the voucher with the certificate for the time being.”
The private sector has hired staff to help traders with the system and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has also given them a month to get used to with the system. “From mid-August, using an online system will be mandatory to issue CoO, according to the ministry.
The system will also help the Department of Customs, Department of Industries, and central bank in checking the details on exports and transactions, Shrestha added, on the occasion.
According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the online system is a good step towards making paperless trade, and reduce hassles with no human face involved.
The Department of Customs – implementing a single-window system to facilitation trade and create business-friendly environment – has been integrating business processes with technology. The department has already been linked with 15 agencies in this integration process, and Vehicle Tracking Consignment System (VCTS) is one of its initiatives. The VCTS has been recently introduced as a trial for three months.

JICA holds workshop for technology transfer in Nepal

Nikken Sohonsa Corporation and Nippon Koei Co Ltd – in association with JICA – organised a workshop here today.
The workshop – held by the Japanese companies to transfer Japanese technology to the officials in the Department of Roads in Nepal and other related agencies – imparted knowledge and ideas on how to protect the slops along the highways, especially those in the mid-hill areas in Nepal using biological soil crust method and later replicate the technology in other similar roads in Nepal.
This workshop was part of ‘Collaboration Programme with the Private Sector for Disseminating Japanese Technology for Environment-friendly Slope Restoration with Soil Algae’ project implemented by JICA. The project also carried out slope restoration with soil algae along the Sinduli-Bardibas Road and other mid-hill highways by promoting vegetative succession by spraying biological soil crust produced from the cosmopolitan soil, according to a press note from the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu.
Upon the implementation of this new technology, it is believed that the traffic flow along the Sinduli-Bardibas Road would be secured. The technology is expected to support for better protection of the mountain roads by mitigating slop failures, the release reads, adding that the technology transfer is one of the ‘corner stones’ of JICA’s cooperation with Nepal.

UNCDF supports transforming agriculture with digital technology

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)’s Mobile Money for Poor (MM4P) programme has partnered with Sun Farmer Nepal and Prabhu Management to implement the innovative project that will enhance farmers’ income by integrating digital technology in agricultural value chains.
The partnership aims at facilitating the farmers to buy quality inputs to bring transformation in production of crops and vegetables and help them link with the market.
UNCDF believes that transformation in the agriculture sector and improvement in livelihoods of rural smallholder farmers is possible through the use of advanced technologies. With support from UNCDF, Sun Farmer Nepal in partnership with Prabhu Management will help farmers dramatically increase their income with modern agricultural solutions and digital finance.
Farmers will get support in infrastructure – irrigation and processing – quality inputs, training on cultivation of high-value crops and improving linkages to the market, according to UNCDF country office.
Launched in 2014, Sun Farmer Nepal is a renewable energy solution company that provides solar-powered irrigation solution to help farmers increase their productivity and income. The company will sell farmers products via a co-owned company jointly set up by Sun Farmer Nepal and partner farmers.
Prabhu Management is a sister company and the agent network manager for Prabhu Money Transfer and has one of the largest distribution networks with more than 3,500 agents in rural areas, mainly in saving and credit cooperatives.
UNCDF MM4P will support Sun Farmer to implement an innovative community-owned contract farming model driven on digital innovations. The solution will include pay-as-you-go solar pumps, a state-of-the-art agriculture market intelligence system for farmers and access to finance for agriculture inputs, logistics and sales. Prabhu Management, with its vast rural agent network, will provide the distribution infrastructure for financial services.
Agriculture is the primary sector of the Nepali economy. It employs 66 per cent of the population and contributes 35 per cent to the country’s GDP. Most of the farmers own small plots of land, where they grow subsistence crops and vegetables using traditional farming practices with limited access to finance for buying high quality inputs, which is one of the main reasons for low agriculture productivity.