Japan to provide Rs 142 mln for Nov 19 poll

Kathmandu, July 24 – Japanese government has agreed to extend a grant up to Japanese Yen 149,000,000 equivalent to NRs.142, 146,000 as its assistance for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election.

The grant assistance is said to be used in the procurement of election related materials for the November 19 polls such as security seals, ballot-box stickers and others.

The notes to this effect were signed and exchanged between Japanese Ambassador Kunio Takahashi and Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi on behalf of respective sides, Embassy of Japan said in a statement issues on Wednesday.

Moreover, the mission shared its hopes that Election Commission (EC) will be fully supported by all, as well as the political parties, for its success to fulfill Nepali people’s aspirations for democracy, peace and stability in the country.

Earlier, the country had extended a grant assistance of 150,000,000 Japanese Yen in erstwhile CA polls held in 2008 and provided 25 servers and training for EC IT related personnel in 2012 and 50 servers in 2013 through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to enhance the voters’ database management capacity of ECN for fair and free election results.

The embassy quoted envoy Takahashi as saying, “Japan expects the successful CA election to bring peace and political stability to Nepal.”

Takahashi concluded with the remarks that the support to EC will be a milestone in strengthening the lasting bonds of friendship between the two countries in the days to come, the statement read.

Sourc:THT