Kathmandu, February 9:

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide grant assistance of $9 million to Nepal for the implementation of the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Information Highway Project — Nepal component.

Finace Secretary Rameshwor Khanal and ADB country representative Barry J Hitchcock today signed the agreement on behalf of their respective institutions.

“Knowledge and Information Communication Technology (ICT) is key to human capital,” said Khanal after the signing ceremony. “It will not only foster better interconnection among the four countries in SASEC sub-regional groping and increase penetration into rural areas but also provide market information and price,”he added.

SASEC ICT Group was established in 2003. ADB is playing a major role in supporting regional cooperation among Bangaldesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal through the SASEC programme since 2001.

“With its growing importance in development, ICT is also a priority sector of the SASEC programme,” said Hitchcock. The SASEC Regional ICT Strategy intends to coordinate and consolidate the national leadership, vision and strategies of the four countires for ICT. “It has proposed three most urgent areas for improvement in ICT — cross-border connectivity, rural access to information and human resource capacity,” he added.