The President is visiting Bangladesh to attend a ceremony to celebrate the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s Founding Father at the cordial invitation of Bangladesh’s President Mohammad Abdul Hamid. President Bhandari leading a Nepali delegation left for Bangladesh Capital Dhaka through a special flight of national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation at 8.40 am Monday. The President was seen off by Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minster KP Sharma Oli, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota, National Assembly Chairperson Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, Deputy Prime Minister Iswar Prasad Pokharel and Constituent Assembly chair Subas Nemwang at VVIP lounge of the Tribhuvan International Airport. Also present on the occasion were ministers, constitutional bodies’ chiefs, security agencies’ chiefs and representatives from foreign diplomatic agencies in Nepal. A contingent of the Nepal Army had offered a special honour to President Bhandari. The 54-member delegation comprises President’s daughter Usha Kiran Bhandari, Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, President’s communication expert Tika Prasad Dhakal, Nepal Academy Chancellor Ganga Prasad Uprety, Secretary at President’s Office Dr Hari Poudel, Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yadav Prasad Koirala, Secretary at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bharat Raj Poudel, Secretary at Ministry of industry, Commerce and Supplies Dinesh Bhattarai and President’s personal secretariat chief Dr Bhesh Raj Adhikari. Among others in the entourage are Foreign Ministry’s joint-secretary Yagya Bahadur Hamal, Chief of Protocol Dr Durga Bahadur Subedi and President’s private doctor Kailash Bhandari. President Bhandari is scheduled to return home at 4.55 pm on Tuesday after completing her visit.
Three MoUs to be signed during President’s Bangladesh visit: Govt. Spokesperson
Minister for Communications and Information Technology Parbat Gurung, also the government’s spokesperson, said three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) would be signed between Nepal and Bangladesh during a state visit of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to Bangladesh. President Bhandari has left for Bangladesh on Monday. During the visit, an array of subjects like cultural relations, tourism sector and pesticides on agriculture and livestock between Nepal and Bangladesh would be discussed, he said at a press briefing organised on Sunday in Singha Durbar on making public decisions taken by latest four council of ministers meetings. Likewise, linking Nepal with ports in Bangladesh through railway and transportation would also be discussed. “There is the hope that the subject of initiatives taken by Bangladesh on purchasing power from Nepal will be discussed,” he said. It has been decided upon to provide authority to Dinesh Bhattarai, Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, to sign one of the MoUs from the side of the Government of Nepal. Likewise, the government has decided to nominate a six-member delegation led by Vice Chairperson of the National Planning Commission Prof Dr Pushpa Raj Kandel to take part from Nepal’s side in a virtual event of the Eighth Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development to be organised in Bangkok in Thailand on 23-26 March. Likewise, it was decided upon to nominate a six-member delegation led by Dr Kandel to partake from Nepal’s side in a virtual event of the 77th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific scheduled in Bangkok on 27-29 April. Likewise, the government will accept medical equipment worth around Rs 1.08 billion to be provided from the Government of Japan in grant to control and treat non-infectious diseases. For the construction and upgradation of Darchula-Tinkar road, it will allow permission to use 253.36 hectares of forest lands within community forests in Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, Baitadi and Darchula districts. It was also decided upon to provide permission to lease out the land at Hetauda Sub Metropolitan City in Makawanpur district belonging to the Nepal Trust to the Office of Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, Bagmati Province. Similarly, the government appointed Binod Kumar Joshi as the Chairperson of Nepal Transit Warehousing Management Company Limited and Phulman Bal (Tamang) as the General Manager of Nepal Television. The government has decided to declare martyrs to Chandra Dangi of Birtamod Municipality-9 and Ram Prasad Pradhan of Buddha Shanti Rural Municipality-1 in Jhapa district, who were killed by the then government on charges of involving in movements against the then Panchayat regime.