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The ruling CPN (Maoist Center) has assigned its leaders with the responsibilities to carry out the party's jobs in provinces.

The Standing Committee (SC) meeting convened at the party office in Parisdanda today finalized the division of the responsibilities for province in-charges and deputy in-charges.

Haribol Gajurel has been given the responsibility of Koshi Province in-charge while Sabitra Kumar Kafle as its deputy in-charge. Similarly, Leelamani Pokharel has been assigned in-charge in Madhes Province and Bishow Nath Shah as deputy in-charge

Party Vice-Chairperson and Spokesperson Agni Prasad Sapkota has been entrusted with responsibility of Bagmati Province in-charge while Dinanath Sharma has been chosen as the Gandaki Province in-charge with Hariraj Adhikari as deputy-in-charge.

Chakrapani Khanal has been appointed Lumbini Province in-charge while Kul Prasad KC as deputy in-charge. Likewise, Kali Bahadur Malla is the Karnali Province's in-charge.

Likewise, Girirajmani Pokharel is the in-charge of Sudurpaschim Province with Bina Magar as the deputy in-charge, shared Spokesperson Sapkota.

The meeting also appointed Pampha Bhusal as the in-charge of Prabash Province Committee (Middle East), Laxman Panta as in-charge for India and TB Pathak as deputy in-charge, and Surendra Kumar Karki as in-charge for Europe-America Committee.

Hitman Shakya is chosen as the in-charge of the Special Province Committee and Yesodha Subedi as deputy in-charge. Deputy in-charges for some provinces are yet to be decided, said Spokesperson Sapkota.

The meeting also decided that the people's representatives of the federal, provincial and local levels will continue to discharge their duties as per the elected responsibilities.

The meeting also changed the date for launching the party's Terai Madhes National Awareness Campaign from March 14 to March 28 citing lack of time for preparations, said Sapkota.

Similarly, the Himal-Pahad-Tarai (Mountain-Hill-Terai) National Unity campaign would be launched from April 27.

The meeting also discussed contemporary political issues such concerning loan shark victims and dairy farmers among others and drew the attention of the government to resolve them convulsively, said Sapkota.

Meanwhile, party's Deputy General-Secretary Janardan Sharma has expressed his note of dissent on the division of responsibilities in the Standing Committee meeting. 

He expressed his reservations with the proposed division of responsibilities. 

He argued, "The division of responsibilities is not in accordance with the purpose of the formation of the party. 

It seems that the responsibilities were delegated with the hangover of the legislation session."

WTO members today (27 February) engaged in intense discussions to get closer to meaningful outcomes on fisheries subsidies and agriculture at the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi. Ministers participated in dedicated meetings on both issues followed by convergence-building sessions to seek to bridge the remaining gaps. Members also endorsed the entry into force of new disciplines on services domestic regulation and advanced work on plastics pollution, fossil fuel subsidy reform, and environmental sustainability.

The first working session at MC13 was dedicated to fisheries subsidies. The facilitator of the negotiations, Iceland's Permanent Secretary of State Martin Eyjólfsson, said the working session and the convergence-building session were productive and commended members for their constructive and focused participation. 

He said he will reach out to members to schedule a series of bilateral consultations on Wednesday, the third day of the Conference, and will share drafts for a Ministerial Decision and the protocol for the adoption by the Ministerial Conference of the Additional Provisions on Fisheries Subsidies.

“I firmly believe that success is within reach. If we operate with the right will, we will find the way. Let's keep up the momentum,” he said.

While many members reiterated their existing positions on the second wave of fisheries negotiations, there were signs of willingness to compromise. Several delegations noted the short time remaining and urged colleagues to engage in bridge-building. 

The working session started with the Philippines presenting its instrument of acceptance of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement. Following the wave of acceptances at the MC13 opening ceremony — presented by Brunei Darussalam, Chad, Malaysia, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo and Türkiye — the Philippines brought the total number of members accepting the Agreement to 70 (meaning 40 acceptances remain for the entry into force of the Agreement).

On agriculture, members addressed three critical areas: the balance across topics in terms of the specificity of issues to be addressed, timelines and expected outcomes; the deliverables for most vulnerable members in respect of the possible exemption of their imports from other members' export restrictions ; and public stockholding (PSH) for food security purposes.

The facilitator for agriculture, Rebecca Miano, Cabinet Secretary at the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry of Kenya, said members agreed on the critical importance of reaching an outcome at MC13, which would provide a clear sense of direction for future negotiations. Many members stressed the importance of agreeing on deliverables at MC13, but views continued to differ on how these shared objectives may be achieved. 

The facilitator expressed her intention to convene meetings in various configurations on Wednesday and invited delegations to consult among themselves and explore the possibility of narrowing gaps and tabling compromise proposals. “With less than 48 hours left, all members will need to make the necessary compromises that would enable us to make progress on the outstanding issues and reach an outcome on agriculture,” she said.

The thematic sessions were followed at the end of the day by a meeting of Heads of Delegations, where the WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala thanked members for their constructive engagement on all areas of discussion. However, she stressed that it is “crunch time” with only two days left until the official conclusion of MC13. “Everyone wants to leave on time, but if we do not get results, we are not leaving!” she added.

Director-General Okonjo-Iweala also referred to the ministerial conversations held on the first day of the Conference to address two issues: trade and sustainable development, including trade and industrial policy and policy space for industrial development, and trade and inclusion. She noted that these deliberative sessions, held for the first time at MC13, need to be finetuned but highlighted the appetite expressed by members to continue engaging in this format in the future. 

Day Two of the Ministerial Conference also saw the entry into force of new disciplines on services domestic regulation, which is expected to lower trade costs by over USD 125 billion worldwide. Supported by 72 WTO members, the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation is designed to facilitate services trade by streamlining and simplifying regulatory procedures and thereby lowering trade costs. It includes the first-ever commitment in a WTO agreement to ensuring non-discrimination between men and women when they seek permits to supply services. 

On the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD), 76 participating members unveiled a package of outcomes highlighting advances made in the discussions since the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June 2002 and pinpointing future action in trade policy. 

On the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (DPP), a ministerial statement circulated by the six co-coordinators — Australia, Barbados, China, Ecuador, Fiji and Morocco — outlined trade-related actions to address the environmental, health and economic impacts of plastics pollution.

On the sidelines of the Conference, Director-General Okonjo-Iweala met members of her Civil Society Advisory Group to exchange views on the role of trade and how the WTO can evolve to meet current challenges facing the world.

The CPN (Maoist Center) has decided to field its candidate for the post of National Assembly Chairperson.

The Standing Committee (SC) meeting convened at the party central office in Parisdanda took the decision to this effect, said party Spokesperson Agni Prasad Sapkota.

Party Vice-Chairperson Sapkota said, "Though there will be discussions in this regard, we will reach a conclusion through consultations. At present, our party has decided to field its candidate for the post of National Assembly Chairperson."

He shared that most of the SC members voiced that the CPN (Maoist Center) should stake its claim on the post.

The post of NA Chairperson would remain vacant from March 3.

Other coalition partners in the government are also claiming their stake for the post.

Nepal has emphasized the need for continuation of all international support measures after it graduates from LDC status to a developing country in 2026. Addressing the 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal said that LDC graduation is the outcome of common efforts, but the challenges that the graduated country might face should be facilitated through a creative resolution over the proposal submitted by LDC group.

“Nepal re-emphasizes the need for continuation of all international support measures, particularly Duty-Free Quota-Free Market Access, Special and Differential Treatments, preferential rules of origin, service waiver, Aid for Trade and Technical Assistance and Capacity Building supports and other important flexibilities in the implementation of multilateral trade agreements and commitments after graduation for a specified period of time,” Rijal said. 

Nepal welcomes the decision taken by WTO General Council on 23 Oct 2023 and urges all Members to support the LDC graduation-related proposal submitted by the LDC Group to facilitate the smooth and sustainable graduation, he said.

In recent years, the multilateral trading system has been undermined by growing protectionism and unilateral trade measures of the trade partners. “The system has been further weakened by ineffective implementation of WTO decisions, including Doha Development Agenda. Therefore, Nepal calls for collective commitment to the multilateral trading system,” Rijal added.

Meanwhile, WTO enshrined new rules facilitating trade in services between more than 70 member states despite initial objections from India and South Africa.

According to AP, the set of rules will streamline authorization requirements and ease procedural hurdles faced by businesses. It will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than $119bn every year, it added. Its integration into the WTO implies all 164 members have been approved as per the body’s rules, which require full consensus.

“Reaching this outcome...and integrating it into the WTO has not been an easy pass,” EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. “We faced opposition from two WTO members, but a ‘spirit of compromise’ eventually cleared hurdles.” 

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, meanwhile, thanked “India and South Africa for finding a way forward,” calling services the “future of trade.” Global services exports are valued at more than $6.5trn, representing 23 percent of total world trade, according to the EU.