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President Ram Chandra Paudel presented the government's policies and programs for the fiscal year 2023/24 in the federal Parliament on Friday. President Paudel read out the policies and programs in the joint meeting of both the houses of the federal Parliament in the Parliament Building in New Baneshwor this afternoon. At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal handed over a copy of the policies and programs to the President. As per the constitutional provision, the President shall address either a meeting of any House or a joint sitting of both Houses of the Federal Parliament and summon the lawmakers. This is the first address to the Parliament after Paudel was elected to the post of the President. In the countries having parliamentary democracy, there is a practice of presenting the government's annual policies and programs in the federal Parliament and the Parliament passing the same after deliberations on them. Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Dahal, Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki, leaders of various political parties, heads and representatives of constitutional bodies, high-ranking government officials, heads of the Nepal-based diplomatic missions and distinguished persons from various walks of life were present in the parliament. Before this, Speaker Devraj Ghimire, the National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, the Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar welcomed the President to the Parliament building. A contingent of the Nepali Army offered a guard of honor to the President on the occasion. The President reached the Parliament Building in a cavalcade. The House of Representatives and the National Assembly will hold their separate meetings today itself after the joint meeting is over. The Prime Minister will table a copy of the President's address to the joint sitting in the separate meetings as well. Both houses of the federal Parliament will deliberate on the government's policies and programs for some days beginning Sunday. The Prime Minister will reply to the queries raised by lawmakers in course of the deliberations. There is a constitutional provision that the finance minister should present the annual budget in the Parliament for the next fiscal year on the 15th of Nepali month of Jeth every year after the policies and programs are passed by the Parliament.  

The parliamentary committee has formed an 11-member sub-committee to discuss and submit a report on the transitional justice bill. A meeting of the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee under the House of Representatives held on Friday decided to form the sub-committee to submit the report by holding discussions with concerned stakeholders in the transitional justice bill. The sub-committee has been asked to submit the report to the committee within three weeks of beginning of the task. Ramesh Lekhak, Jeevan Pariyar, Sushil Thing of Nepali Congress and Subash Chandra Nembang and Mahesh Bartaula of the CPN-UML are the members of the sub-committee. Other member of the sub-committee are Purna Bahadur Gharti of CPN (Maoist Center), Santosh Pariyar of Rastriya Swatantra Party, Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Ranju Kumari Jha of Janata Samajbadi Party, Goma Labh Sapkota of Janamat Party and Sher Bahadur Kunwar of CPN (Unified Socialist). Prior to this, the members of the committee stressed on the need to take the transitional justice bill ahead and complete the remaining tasks of the peace process. The bill to amend the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act was registered on 9 March, 2023. Lekhak had proposed the formation of a subcommittee to conclude the bill. Meanwhile, Nembang in the meeting stressed the need for all to come together to conclude the bill.    

The Cabinet endorsed the policies and programs of the government on Friday. A Cabinet meeting held in Singha Durbar this afternoon endorsed the policies and programs of the government for fiscal year 2023/2024. The government is unveiling its policy and programs today. President Ram Chandra Paudel will present the policies and programs in the joint meeting of both houses (House of Representatives and National Assembly) of federal Parliament at 4 pm.  

PHDCCI India-Nepal Centre in association with the Nepal SBI Bank Ltd (NSBL), Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI), Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Startup Network (TSN) organized India-Nepal Economic Partnership Summit 2023 in Birgunj on Thursday to create a uniquely important platform for discussing a forward looking bilateral economic partnership agenda. The deliberations supported by the decision-makers were aimed at opening new avenues of business engagements and investments in the key sectors of economy besides giving a much-needed boost to the trade near the crucial India-Nepal border in Birgunj, an economic hub of Nepal. Some of the key points of the Summit were to create a platform through joint action for deeper economic engagement between India and Nepal (with focus on remittance, imports, exports and Balance of Payment (BoP) challenges in Nepal), to channelize investment from India to Nepal and other ways round, to re-establish the India-Nepal bilateral relations as the core strength of the sub-regional co-operation in South Asia, to create a sustained convergence of industry and government for thriving on the mutually beneficial India-Nepal bilateral relations in all crucial realms. Likewise, to bring-in to notice the hidden potential in the Border Area Development Program (with focus on connectivity) and paving the way for India’s major involvement in helping the infrastructural facelift of Nepal’s bordering districts in Bihar and making them the gateways of India-Nepal Trade Connection, to discuss and ideate for making Cluster-based Economic Zones across Nepal and to further relax the cross-border trade norms to secure and sustain the greater economic engagements. During the program, Sushil Bhatta, CEO, Investment Board Nepal, gave an outline of the recent investments from the major Indian entities like NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) and Dabur—and welcomed the Indian investments citing the advantages Nepal has a friendly destination and with progressive investment policies for projects, reads a statement issued by the PHDCCI India-Nepal Centre. Representing the Consulate General of India, Satish Pattapu, Consul (Economic Cooperation & Commerce), Consulate General of India, Birgunj, Nepal shared an overview of the main constituents of economic cooperation and challenges at policy level that need to be tackled. For further making the border trade movement smoother and more efficient, Shailendra Kumar, Consul (PCS) apprised about the steps being undertaken. Speaking at the same program, Dipak Kumar De, MD & CEO, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd and Rizwan Alam, Deputy CEO & CFO, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd gave a detailed account of NSBL’s initiatives for fostering the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Nepal and help in easing the slowdown in economy. NSBL’s MD and CEO assured the industry captains and startups for offering the best-in-class banking services for Nepal’s successful transition from a recessionary to a booming economy with focus on project finance and landing for removing liquidity crunch, reads the statement. NSBL, with a majority stake of State Bank of India (SBI), has been working for almost three decades in Nepal in the private sector, it has had created a niche for itself as a technology and innovation driven bank with a resolve to support Nepal’s businesses and people. Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya, lawmaker Kumar Agrawal, President of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry Anukool Bhatnagar, Managing Partner, Comprehensive Financial Assets & Advisory Services LLP and former MD and CEO, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd Deepak Rauniar, founder CEO, Oorja World Sunil KC, Vice President of NICCI Kunal Kayal, Chairperson (Industry & Export Promotion Committee) of NICCI Abhishek Choudhary, President of NICCI Birgunj Chapter Ashok Temani, President (Madhesh Pradesh) of FNCCI Vijay Kant Karna, Executive Chairperson of Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism Mahesh Kumar Agrawal, Bihar State Coordinator of Seema Jagran Manch Ashok Kumar Baidya and Chairman of Nepal-Bharat Sahyog Manch Chandra Kishore among others were present in program.