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Asia Society and the United Nations Department of Political
Affairs cordially invite you to a breakfast briefing with

Ian Martin

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Nepal and Head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN)

on

Nepal’s Peace Process:
An on the Ground Report

The decade-long bloody conflict in Nepal came to an end with the signing of the peace deal by the Maoist rebels and an alliance of seven major political parties (SPA) on November 21, 2006. The key actors are currently engaged in a more arduous task of implementing the peace agreement, managing disparate expectations, forming an interim government, and overseeing a Constituent Assembly election by June of this year, among other equally important tasks. Seizing the momentum for peace, the United Nations, at the request of both sides, has set up its political mission in Nepal to assist the peace process. The Mission is comprised of unarmed military monitors, electoral experts, and civil affairs officers, who will assist, as requested, in the transition to a secure, peaceful, prosperous, and inclusive Nepal. Join us for a discussion with Ian Martin, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Nepal, who will share a view from the ground as the country navigates through a turning point in its history.

Friday, March 2, 2007
8:00 – 9:30 a.m.
Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Policy programs at the Asia Society are generously supported by the
Nicholas Platt Endowment for Public Policy

ASIA SOCIETY

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Mantra For An Economic Revolution In Nepal

Mantra For An Economic Revolution In Nepal



Goal: Double digit economic growth, 10% or more.

(1) Focus on human capital, more than on physical capital, and financial capital. Lifelong education, universal health. Emphasis on preventive health care. Balanced diet, exercise, rest. Education, health, micro credit. Immediate land reform. Credit in all income brackets.

(2) Focus on the service sector like a laser beam without ignoring the agriculture and industrial sectors. The service sector has to be made the largest, the one that employs the most people. Environmental conservation makes economic sense. It is essential to growing tourism. Aim for clean industrialization. Obvious: hydel.

(3) Focus on the information/telecommunications infrastructure more than on the physical infrastructure. Bathe the country with FM technology, the internet for the masses. Encourage the private sector to do most of it. Offer 10 years of schooling through the air waves: evening school perhaps. Target adults and children both. This makes illiteracy kind of irrelevant. Live FMcast of the deliberations in the state and central legislatures. Long term: wireless broadband in all the big cities. Universal internet access. Turn Chitwan into the Shanghai of Nepal.

(4) BOOT. Build, own, operate, transfer. Think of ambitious infrastructure projects. 10,000 MW hydel projects. East west high speed electric railway, Tibet to India high speed railway. Wireless broadband. Invite in FDI, foreign direct investment. Provide the right policy framework. Keep all deliberations transparent. Think of huge educational and medical establishments. Education and health should be made export items.

(5) FDI. Foreign Direct Investment. The Chinese diaspora has been central to the magical growth in China. The Nepali diaspora will be central to a double digit economic growth in Nepal. Invite FDI into all sectors of the economy.

(6) China, India. Nepal is lucky to be between the two Asian giants. This is the Asian Century.

Mantra For An Economic Revolution In Nepal






Proposed Constitution
The Matrix, Vision, Spread Democracy, Revolution