Kathmandu, May 18

The government of Japan has extended grant assistance of up to 700 million Japanese yen, which is equivalent to Rs 683.20 million to the government of Nepal for implementation of the Economic and Social Development Programme.

Ambassador of Japan to Nepal Masashi Ogawa and Rajan Khanal, secretary at the Ministry of Finance, signed and exchanged a set of notes to this effect at the Ministry of Finance today on behalf of their respective governments, as per a media release.

Speaking at the event, Ogawa mentioned that Nepal is a country that is prone to many kinds of natural disasters like earthquakes, landslides and floods, just like Japan. Especially during monsoon, floods and landslides occur frequently in Nepal every year, claiming many lives and damaging various properties.

“As a true friend of Nepal, the government of Japan will cooperate with the government of Nepal as much as possible to

enable Nepal to become a disaster-resilient country,” the release has quoted Ambassador Ogawa as saying.

Through this programme, the Japanese government will provide equipment, including an automatic meteorological observing station and construction machines for road maintenance. These equipment are also used in Japan to improve disaster prevention capability to make early restoration and reconstruction possible after disasters, as per the ambassador.

The Embassy of Japan believes, that through this programme, the government of Nepal will improve its disaster management capability as well as its ability to implement economic and social development in a stable manner.