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Norwegian Ambassador to Nepal Torun Dramdal said that if everything goes according to plan, Nepal will graduate from the group of least developed countries in 2026 and then become a middle income country. Speaking with the News Agency Nepal, ambassador Dramdal said “Nepal is moving in the right direction considering the considerable progress in the peace process. Nepal has progressive constitution and this year the elections in May and November were held in a peaceful manner, which are milestones for democracy in Nepal.” Therefore, inclusive democracy and good governance will support Nepal to become a middle income country. How do you see Nepal-Norway relation? Can you explain Norway’s contribution in development and Norwegian approaches? Nepal and Norway have cooperated for many years. It started from people to people cooperation at grassroots level. And, this year (2023) we are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations. Nepal is a partner country for Norway, which means that Nepal is a superior country for our development cooperation and our annual assistance to Nepal amounts to approximately $30m. What are the Norwegian development priorities in Nepal? Our main focus for cooperation are education, renewable energy and good governance. These are main sectors and these are in line with the priority of the government of Nepal. And, of course, gender equality and climate change are always on top of our agenda. Those are cross cutting issues that we always have to take into account in everything we do. How do you see the results of the Norwegian investment in the education sector in Nepal? I would like to comment on Nepal for the significant progress when it comes to access to education. Almost all children in Nepal go to school now and I think something that I am really proud of. Norway is advocating in the sector of clean energy. What are the objectives of investing in clean energy? Nepal has a huge potential for hydropower. And back home in Norway, hydropower has been a driver for industrialization and economic growth. And, I hope that hydropower for Nepal will also be a driver for economic growth and job creation. And, of course, Nepal is a country which is very vulnerable to climate change. Renewable and clean energy are crucial parts of the solution. Norway was supporting the people from the marginalized communities. However, we don't see such support continuing. Can you tell us why the embassy is not prioritizing the marginalized communities now? I would say that we still support marginalized communities. We do this through Norwegian NGOs. Many Norwegian NGOs support Nepali NGOs. We also do this through the support of the United Nations in Nepal with this common goal of ‘Living No One Behind’. We support inclusive education, which is particularly important for children from marginalized communities. So, I would say that marginalized communities are very much the target group for our cooperation with Nepal. Nepal’s federal governance system has been moving from the first five year’s electoral cycle to the second cycle. How do you see the implementation of federalism in Nepal? How is Norway cooperating to strengthen Nepal’s federalism? Norway is not a federal state, but a lot of power is decentralized to the local governments. And, if federalism is to succeed in Nepal, it's important that local and provincial governments are able to deliver good services to the people. And, I think that if you visit municipalities in Norway, you would find lots of similarities in the tasks and responsibilities of local governments in Nepal and Norway.  Although some of our municipalities are very small, for instance our municipality called Utsira municipality, they have only 188 inhabitants. And I don’t think you have any municipalities with so few inhabitants.  We continue to cooperate when it comes to good governance. And, the aim is to make the governance system effective and efficient. How does the parliamentary system function in Norway? Does Norway implement any program to strengthen Nepal’s parliamentary system? I believe that it is also important for parliament to engage with citizens. They should be open and transparent. Parliaments are very important because they are democratically elected assemblies that represent the people.  And, in Norway, there is lots of transparency and openness in our parliament. We have journalists in parliament. They can go there every day if they want to. They can move freely around. We always have TV cameras when there is a parliamentary debate. And, we also have a gallery for the general public if they would like to sit down and follow the debates in parliament. Because, we value openness and transparency. Norway is cooperating with the parliament in Nepal. We have a project with UNDP called the ‘Parliamentary Support Project’. Norway has been supporting Nepal to promote good governance. However, the Transparency International’s report shows Nepal’s service delivery has not progressed much. How do you see this? What are your suggestions to promote good governance in Nepal? I believe that transparency and good governance are important foundations for development. And, also strong institutions prevent individuals from abusing power for their own gain. That is why Norway is one of the donors to the provincial and local government support program. That is about capacity building and building stronger institutions. Nepal is one of the countries severely affected by climate change. This year, in the COP27, countries decided to establish a loss and damage fund. Countries like Norway need to support such funds. What is your response? Norway’s ambition is to continue to be a leader in climate finance. And, we support the establishment of a fund for loss and damage at COP27. We see this as a very important outcome of COP27, although there are still some modalities which would have to be worked out. From the Norwegian perspective, it should be a common global responsibility to support those countries which have contributed very little to climate change but they face the harsh reality.

For the first time in its history, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) organized a franchise cricket league. But the CAN initiative had a scandalous start, thanks to an alleged match-fixing scandal. What’s more, teams complained that they were not paid and that those responsible for paying them had gone out of contact after the match.  In the wake of these controversies, the Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered an inquiry and the Central Investigation Bureau has already initiated a probe.  Against this backdrop, Chumbi Lama, a CAN member, spoke to AP1 TV, sister broadcaster of The Annapurna Express. Excerpts:  Why did the Nepal T20 league go to an Indian company? In 2020, CAN signed a formal agreement with India’s Seven3Sports, which gave the latter strategic, commercial and advisory rights for almost 10 years. I consider it a black day for the Nepali sports fraternity. I knew from the start that this deal will create misunderstanding in the future with regard to rights given to the company and lack of transparency surrounding international events. So, I had suggested CAN to act as per Nepal’s relevant laws. No one heeded those suggestions at that time.   Who was responsible for the agreement and what roles did you and others have to disagree upon it? The work ethics of Seven3Sports and CAN didn’t match. I and other board members warned the committee to strike a deal with the company, to no avail. CAN signed the deal with Seven3Sports in haste before its annual general meeting. Basically, five members of CAN’s executive board, including chair, vice chair and secretary, worked out these processes.  Can you elaborate on the (Jan 3) dispute in the field? The organizers, ie Seven3Sports, went out of contact and they didn’t provide salary to match officials and players. So, the players and the officials delayed the game in protest.  How do you feel about this incident? Youths like us have joined this field to contribute to Nepali sports, especially cricket. We must put an end to incidents like these. This particular incident has made me sad. Cricket brings families together, forges brotherhood all over the world. Incidents like this must not happen again. My best wishes for the progress of CAN. What’s the mental state of players after the incident? Haven’t talked to the players, but I know everyone is frustrated. So, a solution must be worked out as soon as possible. CAN must investigate the incident properly and report the findings to the authorities concerned.  Police and CIB are also probing the case, so let’s hope for the best. Nepali cricket has a very bright future but we must work hard for the same.  

Established in 2020, Ramesh Corp, named after the late entrepreneur Ramesh Gupta, has made big strides as a business house in a relatively short period of time. Pratik Jalan, who is the Executive Director of Ramesh Corp, has a deeper understanding and experience in different verticals of IT including telecom services, cloud computing, and other technology investments and businesses. Himanshi Karn of ApEx caught up with Jalan to talk about the current state of the private sector, the economic prospects of Nepal and Ramesh Corp’s investment plans. Excerpts: The Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI’s) recent survey also shows demands throughout the country have fallen. Industrialists have put a hold on their investment plans. What is the state of the Nepali private sector right now? When will we see new investments by the private sector? Currently, the economy is in a bad state. A severe cash crunch has obstructed the money cycle at every level of business. We can barely see consumer spending in the market. This has badly affected the production of industries as both consumption and demand are suppressed now. While the economy is going through a turbulent phase, Ramesh Corp is also expanding its presence across different verticals. Nepal is a growing economy, and the beauty of this country is that we usually have short-lived crises. We’re hopeful the present-day economic difficulties will soon go away. There is an anticipation that the market will bounce back and we will get support from the government. How much time do you think it will take for the economy to come out of the recession? There is a new government in place now and we expect private sector-friendly policies. We are definitely seeing some positive progress on the regulatory side. But it will take time. It should be a matter of 6-7 months for the economy to be stable. I wouldn’t say growth but there will be stability. How has the high-interest rate made an impact on the industrialists and the common people? The private sector is the major employment provider in the country. The interest cost is a big burden on everybody and it is not just limited to business houses. If we look at it deeper with an example, the normal citizen of this country is dependent on different kinds of loans such as car loans, home loans, and so on. If the interest rate climbs higher, their loan repayment capacity gets affected. So it is obvious that many people have second thoughts about spending in this situation which affects our business activities. Now the private sector is suffering both ways; they are required to pay extra for the money they’ve borrowed to run their business too. Business leaders recently met the new Prime Minister and Finance Minister. While both the PM and Finance Minister have said that the economy is their prime agenda, how hopeful are you that the new government will address the issues raised by the private sector? There is definitely a lot of space for hope here. I believe we should avoid a conservative assessment of the current situation. The new government is holding consistent meetings and that shows the beam of light to the private sector. Ramesh Corp recently made a big investment announcement, i.e., manufacturing tiles in Nepal in partnership with India's Kajaria Group. What led your group to have this joint venture with Kajaria? If we look around Nepal, there’s a lot of potential for growth in the construction sector. Tiles specifically are mostly imported into the country. We want Nepal to become self-sufficient in products that are in big demand. Kajaria is a big brand not just in India and also globally, and we have an opportunity to collaborate with them and produce and supply the Nepali market with quality products. Ever since the establishment of Ramesh corp, how has the journey been as a single business house? We are certainly sustaining and growing, dealing with the current adverse situation. We’re also looking for different ways to make investments as Ramesh corp. It has been positively effective ever since the establishment of our group. So many of our goals have been successfully completed, a lot of them are yet to be ticked on the checklist and many are yet to be made. Ramesh Corp is already a diversified business conglomerate. What areas your group is planning to enter in the near future? There are a couple of things in the pipeline like tile manufacturing which is our latest venture. We are also looking for more opportunities to invest in. We are hopeful that by the end of 2023, we will have 25 different ventures under us.

Newly-formed Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has joined the government despite internal differences on the matter as well as divergent public opinion. Chairman and leader of RSP’s parliamentary party Rabi Lamichhane is helming the Ministry of Home Affairs amid lots of expectations and speculations from different quarters. The nascent party has also come under criticism for not unveiling its ideology and showing anti-federalist tendencies (The party did not contest provincial elections). Pratik Ghimire of ApEx talked to Santosh Pariyar, a member of the House of Representatives representing the party.

Are you happy with your party joining the government?

I don’t find any reason to be unhappy as this decision was made after discussions within the party committees and parliamentary party committee. We are in mainstream politics and joining the government is the only way to deliver on the promises we made. 

This decision has caused disputes in your party. Will it impact the party’s future?

Different members of a democratically-run political organization can have different views. That is the beauty of such an organization. I don’t think this (difference of opinion) will have a negative impact on the party. It doesn’t mean there’s no room for opinion that is different from the party line. Differing voices are equally important because we built this organization together, after all. These disputes can be resolved through intra-party talks. How will we perform from the positions of power? That is what matters the most. If we can bring peace and prosperity, we will definitely emerge as a successful party.

Will this focus on the government not hamper the expansion of party organization?

Though a new party, we have a large number of members with only a handful of members in the parliament. Also, only a couple of us will be in the cabinet. There are more capable members to run and expand the party structure. We will run both the government and the party in a balanced manner.

People have high hopes from the ministries you get. How will you meet them?

That people have faith in us is a matter of pride for us. Now, it's time to not let the people down. Our major priority is a corruption-free nation because corruption has become a (kind of) culture here. Corruption has prohibited people from fulfilling their basic needs like education, health and employment. We will work and deliver on each promise we made during the election campaign.

Is your party anti-federalist?

This is a wrong narrative. We are not anti-federalist. We have asked for a directly-elected provincial chief and advocated a better provincial system. Our demand is that provinces not be turned into recruitment centers. Then how can we be against federalism?  We didn’t vote in the provincial ballot because we were not in that particular race. Being a political party, why would we vote for other parties? This was the real reason, while a wrong narrative prevailed. We couldn’t clarify our stance and that was, I think, our mistake. As for our ideology, it is inclusive democracy with social justice. How they define it with existing trends like leftist, rightist or centrist is up to the people and political parties.