Following the new political development in Nepal, a senior official with a leading donor agency has expressed commitment to extend full scale support to the Nepal government to help in peace building and development process of Nepal.

Dr Sultan Hafeez Rahman, country director of the Asian Development Bank-Nepal Resident Mission (ADB-NRM), on Friday expressed pleasure over the recent political developments here and hinted at increasing aid to Nepal if the new government placed its priorities on socio-economic development of the nation, reports said.

Dr Rahman commented that the forthcoming government has to inform donors about its development priorities, following which international donors can take a coordinative approach.

“What is crucial is that the government has to work out ‘plans and programmes’ to address the root causes of poverty,” said Dr Rahman.

He further said that the ADB has identified poverty, exclusion, inequality and unbalanced regional growth as among the root causes of conflict in the country and urged the government to be formed to address these issues.

“People want democracy because they believe democracy will bring them their basic human, socio-economic and political entitlements. The government should ensure that those are delivered to people,” he added.

“Talking about the tremendous potential Nepal has, Dr Rahman said, “There is a need to expand development activities and take reform measures. Immediately, the service sector and the tourism sector will see better days in days to come.”

He said that ADB is waiting for the government, which has the job of articulating development priorities. “I hope donors’ group will respond positively,” he added.

ADB had already approved $110 million per year for 2004 to 2007 on a yearly basis through its Country Strategy Paper (CSP). ADB will not lag behind in joining donors’ group to increase aid to Nepal. However, the government has to clearly spell out its programmes and priorities, focusing on poverty reduction strategy, said Dr Rahman.

He expressed confidence that Nepal can register even a seven per cent economic growth at par with other South Asian countries in about three years’ time, provided the security situation in the country remains stable. nepalnews.com pb Apr 29 06