Finance Minister Mahat to attend G20 meet

KATHMANDU: The government has decided to send a Nepali delegation led by Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat to attend the third finance ministerial meeting of G20 countries — the developed and developing countries including India — being held in Gujrat, India. The Cabinet decision regarding this was made on July 11. Information on this was shared by Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, amid a press conference on Thursday. The meeting of the Council of Ministers also decided to permit a Nepali delegation to be led by Foreign Minister NP Saud to attend the retreat of foreign ministers from BIMSTEC countries. It will be held in Thailand. Meanwhile, the minimum support price of mota rice per quintal has been fixed at Rs 3,198 while of medium rice at 3,062 per quintal. As per the Cabinet decision, the term of the usury investigation commission has been extended till September 11, 2023. The term of the cooperative sectors reform taskforce, 2080 has extended for one more month, to be effective from July 11. Moreover, the Cabinet meeting held on July 6 decided to issue an order to remove difficulty relating to Section 74 of the Public Procurement Act, 2063. It will ease the chief of public body to decide on extension of public contract without creating liability to the office. Out of the total Rs 12.73 billion to be provided to the local levels under the fiscal equalisation grant in the current fiscal year, 2022/23, Rs 5.9 billion or 40% will be handed over to the local levels. Minister Sharma who is also the spokesperson of the government further shared that the government endorsed the relief distribution directive, 2080 established for providing compensation to the victims of wildlife attacks. In the previous fiscal years 2021/22 and 2022/23, the human resource companies that send workforce for foreign work will have their renewal for the year 2023/24. However, it will be enforced in the case of the companies that are able to send a minimum of 100 persons in a year. The government will resolve the difficulties in the renewal of these companies. The Cabinet decided to allow in principle the formulation of tourism bill. Moreover, Thabang Rural Municipality of Rolpa district has been permitted to acquire 890 square kilometres of land for constructing an agro-produce collection and sales centre. The central office of Nepal Open University has been designated at Sanothimi, Bhaktapur. READ ALSO:

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