Kathmandu, August 25: Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori assured Nepal of continued economic cooperation and lobbied for his country’s agenda for reforming the United Nations, especially expanding the membership of the Security Council.
Though no major aid commitments were made Japan has agreed to look into Nepal’s proposals for projects on river management, community bridges and an additional highway linking Kathmandu with the Tarai, Nepali and Japanese officials said.
Mori sought support for reforming the United Nations, particularly articulation of the need in the official speech Nepal would make when the world body meets for its Millennium Summit on September 6-8 in New York.
“We want to see expansion in both the permanent and non permanent membership (of the Security Council),” a senior Japanese foreign ministry official said. “The new permanent members should be from both developing and industrialised countries.”
Nepal’s response to that was “reforms without expansion of both types of memberships would be incomplete,” he added.
Narayan S. Thapa, Nepal’s Foreign Secretary confirmed the statement at a separate briefing saying that Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had expressed the need for “urgent” reforms and that membership of the Security Council should be expanded.
Japan’s prime minister also urged Nepal to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), saying that would add to its universality and send “a strong message to India and Pakistan.” Koirala told Mori that the treaty was in the process of being ratified, sources said.
Japan is the largest donor to all the four countries-Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal-that were on Mori’s weeklong South Asian itinerary.
Japan announced a new scheme to support the training of 50 Nepali information technology professionals over a period of two years, in line with its commitment made at the Group of Eight summit held in July.
Nepal will also be included in a new South Asian exchange scheme that seeks to take 5000 visitors to Japan over a period of five years. A separate Mori Fellowship would enable exchanges between scholars, researchers and artists.
Briefing reporters after about an hour of talks between Mori and Koirala, the Japanese Foreign ministry official said important bilateral exchanges and new economic assistance projects were discussed.
Nepali officials were equally upbeat about the visit. “Japan is our major development partner and this visit has helped establish good rapport at the political level,” said Foreign Secretary Thapa. Mori left Kathmandu in the evening enroute to Tokyo.