Kathmandu, January 9

The government has decided to form an eight-member mechanism led by secretary at the Ministry of Finance to settle disputes that may surface in the course of implementing bilateral and multilateral investment agreements.

Announcing the decisions taken by the Council of Ministers on January 6, at a press meet organised in Singha Durbar today, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota said the mechanism was also tasked with the responsibility of defending cases related to bilateral, multilateral financing agreements.

The Cabinet decided to appoint Bhishmaraj Dhungana of Morang as the chairperson of Securities Board of Nepal, and granted permission to the authorities concerned to draft the Partnership Bill.

The Cabinet also endorsed the visit of a Nepali delegation led by Joint Secretary Dhruba Ghimire at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply to New Delhi of India to participate in a meeting of Nepali-India Joint Working Group, scheduled for January 12. The Nepali delegation will hold discussion with its Indian counterpart on petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas.

The government has authorised Alternative Energy Promotion Centre to sign accreditation master agreement with Green Climate Fund and to draft the Ship Registration, Operation and Management (Amendment) Bill. The government also decided to lease out 29.6 hectare national forest area to Mahakali Irrigation Project for construction of a canal and draft the Higher Education Bill and Technical and Vocational Education Bill.

In yet another decision, the Cabinet has approved the organisational structure of Ministry of Finance and its subordinate agencies. It appointed Sanu Tuladhar of Kathmandu and Durga Laxmi Shrestha of Gorkha as members of the Nepal Nursing Council. The government decided to overturn the recent decision of Nepal Telecommunications Authority to scrap the license of WebSurfer Nepal Communication System, Smart Telecom and Nepal Satellite Telecom and notify their owners to clear the outstanding dues to the authority concerned within the stipulated time.