Kathmandu, May 29:

Home Minister and coordinator of the three-member government talks team, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, said today that they reviewed the first round of the government-Maoist talks and worked out the agenda for the next round of talks.

The date of the the next round of talks will be finalised after consultation with the Maoist talks team, he said.

“Today we reviewed the progress we made during the first round of talks and held general discussion about the agenda to be discussed in the next round of talks,” said Home Minister Sitaula after a meeting of the government talks team at the Peace Secretariat.

The minister said they discussed the ways to involve national and international teams in monitoring the Ceasefire Code of Conduct reached between the government and the Maoists and arms management. He said the issue of process and modalities of election to constituent assembly would also get an entry in the second round of talks.

Sitaula had told the media that both the sides wanted to conclude the talks at the earliest possible and go for holding election to constituent assembly. Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Pradip Gyawali, also a member of the government talks team, said the second round of talks could be held only after the Maoists’ capital-centred mass meeting on June 2.

Minister of State for Labour and Transport Management Ramesh Lekhak, another member of government talks team, said they are scheduled to hold a meeting of Talks Support and Suggestion Committee, represented by nine parties in Parliament and United Left Front, tomorrow, while they would hold another meeting with members of civil society and human rights defenders on Wednesday.

Sources said their meeting with the Talks Support and Suggestion Committee would focus mainly on finalising the political agenda to be discussed during the second round of talks and another meeting with the civil society and rights defenders would focus on developing mechanisms of national and international teams monitoring the Ceasefire Code of Conduct.

Honour code: MP

RUPANDEHI: A member of the House of Representatives and central member of the Nepali Congress, Mahesh Acharya, on Monday called on the government, Maoists and the seven-party alliance to “honour the ceasefire code of conduct”. Acharya was inaugurating the fifth district convention of the Nepal Press Union Rupandehi branch in Butwal. Calling on the workers of parties to ward off violence, he called on all to work towards alleviating poverty. “The seven-party alliance, the government and the Maoists should stop working in isolation,” the NC leader said. — HNS