Sri Lankan President Rajapaksha returns home

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha has returned home Saturday morning after completing his three-day visit to Nepal.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha at the VVIP lounge of Tribhuvan International Airport(TIA), Kathmandu, before leaving for Colombo, after completing his three-day official tour to Nepal, Saturday, October 31 09. nepalnews.com/rhRajapaksha returned to Colombo at 11 am, today, by a special flight of the Sri Lankan Airlines with his spouse, ministers and other members of his delegation. The flight, earlier scheduled for 9.30 am, was delayed due to poor visibility at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).Talking to reporters at TIA before leaving for Colombo Rajapaksha expressed hope that peace process in Nepal would come to a logical conclusion soon.Rajapaksha said, he was confident about the success of the peace process as all the leaders he met were for peace. However, Rajapaksha said, he found Nepal's current political situation not so good.Sri Lankan President Rajapaksha had arrived in Nepal on Thursday to inaugurate a Bouddha Vihar constructed by Sri Lanka in Lord Buddha's birthplace Lumbini. He had gone to Lumbini and offered prayers after inaugurating the Vihar, Friday.Rajapaksha also met with his Nepali counterpart President Ram Baran Yadav on Friday

Sri Lankan President Rajapaksha returns home

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha has returned home Saturday morning after completing his three-day visit to Nepal.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha at the VVIP lounge of Tribhuvan International Airport(TIA), Kathmandu, before leaving for Colombo, after completing his three-day official tour to Nepal, Saturday, October 31 09. nepalnews.com/rhRajapaksha returned to Colombo at 11 am, today, by a special flight of the Sri Lankan Airlines with his spouse, ministers and other members of his delegation. The flight, earlier scheduled for 9.30 am, was delayed due to poor visibility at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).Talking to reporters at TIA before leaving for Colombo Rajapaksha expressed hope that peace process in Nepal would come to a logical conclusion soon.Rajapaksha said, he was confident about the success of the peace process as all the leaders he met were for peace. However, Rajapaksha said, he found Nepal's current political situation not so good.Sri Lankan President Rajapaksha had arrived in Nepal on Thursday to inaugurate a Bouddha Vihar constructed by Sri Lanka in Lord Buddha's birthplace Lumbini. He had gone to Lumbini and offered prayers after inaugurating the Vihar, Friday.Rajapaksha also met with his Nepali counterpart President Ram Baran Yadav on Friday.

Nembang hopes to endorse budget soon

Chairman of the Constituent Assembly (CA) Subash Nembang has expressed hope that the political parties will reach a consensus to pass budget for the current fiscal year from the parliament.

Chairman of the Constituent Assembly (CA) Subash Nembang.(File photo)Speaking to journalists in Pokhara on Saturday, Nembang said the nation will face the economic crisis if the budget is not passed from the House at the earliest possible. The House has not been able to pass the budget due to continued obstruction by the opposition Unified CPN (Maoist) since last two-and-half months. He urged the parties to avoid any economic disaster and seek no other alternatives of the parliament to endorse the budget. Stating that relations among the political forces are continuously deteriorating, Nembang warned that such trend would delay the constitution writing process.

Lasting peace first condition for Nepal's development: UK parliamentarians

The delegation of the British parliament's International Development Committee has urged Nepal's political parties to accelerate the ongoing peace process.Organising a press conference in Kathmandu on Saturday, after completing the four-day visit, the nine-member team of British parliamentarians lead by the Committee's chairman Malcolm Bruce said that the progress on poverty reduction and inclusion of all groups in the society, particularly women and ethnic and religious minorities will not be achieved without permanent peace and stability.Stating that 31 percent of Nepal's population earns less than one dollar per day, Bruce further said there are huge challenges regarding development in Nepal, which have been further complicated by the slow peace process.Expressing the UK's commitment to assist in Nepal's development, he added that the Nepal government must prepare conducive environment for assistance."UK wants to see that the agreed peace process, writing the new constitution must remain on track and all sides must work together on their peace commitments", he added.During its stay here, the British parliamentary team visited Surkhet, Achham, Banke, Kaski, Parbat and Baglung districts and inspected Maoist cantonments, hospitals, schools, community forests, roads and water supply programmes funded by the British government.They also met the Prime Minister, ministers, party leaders, representatives of civil society, private sector and the donor community.The British parliamentary delegation left for Bangladesh for the similar visit today.