Rastriya Samachar Samiti

Kathmandu, May 1:

Vice-chairman of the national planning commission (NPC), Dr Shankar Prasad Sharma returned home on Friday after signing an agreement in connection with the operation of the Asian Highway held in Shanghai, China on April 28.

The Asian highway network will be nearly 150,000 km long and cover 32 countries in Asia. This includes 1,311 km of the Mahendra highway, Arniko highway and the Kathmandu-Narayanhat-Hetauda-Raxaul highway.

This also completes the highway network as per the agreement and it is believed to have a positive impact especially on trade and tourist arrivals.

At the ESCAP general convention held in Shanghai, discussions were held especially on topics relating to globalisation, poverty alleviation and major social problems and issues.

Dr Sharma presided over the second session of the conference on behalf of Nepal and also presented a working paper. Dr Sharma informed the meeting about the steps taken by Nepal for minimising the negative effects of globalisation and poverty alleviation and the progress made in the social sector.

The conference concluded with the adoption of the Shanghai declaration. It has expressed the belief that the global campaign to reduce hunger and poverty from Asia and the pacific region would be successful.

Chinese vice-president Zeng Qinghong inaugurated the conference, participated by representatives and delegates from 55 countries. Royal Nepalese ambassador to China Narendra Raj Pandey, NPC secretary Bhoj Raj Ghimire and secretary at the ministry of physical planning and works, Tirtha Raj Sharma represented Nepal at the conference.