Nepal-Pak meet delayed

KATHMANDU: The joint economic commission meeting between Nepal and Pakistan has been postponed. The meeting, which is scheduled to be held here in

Kathmandu from today, has been postponed due to various reasons. Finance minister Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani said that the meeting will be held soon. "The date of the meeting will be decided through diplomatic channel," he said. Established in 1983 with a view to promoting trade and economic relations between Nepal and Pakistan, the commission meeting has not been held since 1996. — RSS

Seminar on sericulture

BHARATPUR: A day-long district level seminar was held here under the aegis of the Sericulture Development Project. At the seminar, chief of the agriculture development office Chandra Kanta Devkota, assistant crop protection officer Achyut Prasad Adhikari and chairman of the Chitwan district committee of Nepal Sericulture Association, Yam Malla Thakuri presented working papers. LDO Krishna Prasad Devkota, assistant fisheries development officer Purna Dhungana and chief of the Bhandara sericulture programme Homendra Burmeta also spoke on the occasion. — RSS

WFP help build road

TULSIPUR: Rural Community Infrastructure Development Programme of the food for work project has built 16 km road in Dang with the cooperation of German development agency, GTZ. The target was to build 32 km of road at various settlements of Lalmatiya, Rampur, Manpur, Gangaparaspurand Tulsipur. Meanwhile, the project has provided 15 piglets to three groups and 32 goats to five groups of Gangapur village development committee under the World Food Programme (WEF). Likewise, a sum of Rs 10,000 has been provided to run a retail shop at Lalmatiya VDC. — RSS

271 small units annulled

SARLAHI: The district cottage and small industries office, Sarlahi has cancelled the registration 271 cottage and small industries in the district by the end of 2003. Those annulled are 200 rice mills, 12 furniture industries, one saw mill, five brick kilns, five tobacco factories and 37 other industries, according to the office. The industries had failed to renew their registration. — RSS

China, Isuzu trucks row

BEIJING: China is asking the Japanese automaker Isuzu to compensate Chinese consumers for flaws in two types of Isuzu trucks, one day after halting imports of the vehicles over safety concerns. China wants Isuzu Motors to pay to fix trucks that have already been sold in the country as well as other costs. said China has asked Isuzu to respond to the request within a week. — AP

Reforms in WTO urged

PARIS: French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said that new conditions surrounding global institutions meant that the United Nations and WTO would have to be reformed. Raffarin told the association of economic journalists here that emergence of new conditions for governing global issues "requires reform of the UN and will require reform of the WTO". — AFP

Polish, Thai trade ties

BANGKOK: Poland and Thailand agreed to substantially boost bilateral trade during a visit by president Aleksander Kwasniewski who will also discuss an arms-for-agriculture barter deal. Kwasniewski and Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra agreed to boost cooperation among their militaries, in tourism, and in international politics, particularly over Iraq. — AFP

Nestle’s net profits dip

VEVEY: Swiss food group Nestle reported that net profit last year fell by 17.9 per cent, largely because comparable profits in 2002 had been boosted by asset sales, but said underlying performance would continue to improve. Net profit for 2003 was $5.22 billion . Sales fell by 1.4 per cent. — AFP