Submit your Article

Seven-nation regional grouping BIMSTEC on Wednesday adopted a charter to expand its overall cooperation and firmed up a master plan for transport connectivity at a virtual summit attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders of the bloc, the Press Trust of India reported.

Shortly after the Summit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the adoption of the charter has given the BIMSTEC an “international personality” and it reflected a significant evolution of this grouping.

Besides India, the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) comprises Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.

Rudrenda Tandon, the Additional Secretary in the MEA looking after the BIMSTEC division, said Modi announced USD 1 million (one million is equal to ten lakhs) as an ad-hoc grant for the operational budget of the grouping’s secretariat.

He said the summit, hosted by Sri Lanka, also finalised three documents providing for the expansion of cooperation, according to the Press Trust of India .

At a media briefing, Tandon said the leaders of the BIMSTEC member countries also approved a complete reorganisation of the grouping’s cooperation activities.

Henceforth, the BIMSTEC cooperation activities will take place in seven pillars and each of the member countries will lead one pillar, Tandon said.

He said India will lead the security pillar of the BIMSTEC.

From our perspective the signing of the charter is the most important outcome, Tandon said, adding the Summit made “incremental progress” in further expansion of cooperation among the member states.

In his address, PM Modi proposed that the pace of cooperation be accelerated and the grouping should not rest after the adoption of the charter, the Press Trust of India reported.

Tandon said the prime minister also spoke about the need to move forward in areas of connectivity, marine cooperation, security and economic integration.

India has been making concerted efforts to make BIMSTEC a vibrant forum for regional cooperation as initiatives under SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) were not moving forward for a variety of reasons, according to the Press Trust of India .

Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka paid a courtesy call on President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the latter’s office in Colombo on Wednesday.

On the occasion, the President recalled the long-standing warm and cordial relations existing between Nepal and Sri Lanka and underscored the need to further strengthen economic ties for mutual benefit, read a statement issued by the Embassy of Nepal in Colombo.

Khadka commended the President and the Government of Sri Lanka for successfully hosting the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit and stressed the importance of promoting cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, connectivity, energy, and people-to-people contacts in the region.

Later today, the Foreign minister also held a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris at the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka.

The two ministers discussed the matters of mutual interests, including pandemic recovery, economic partnership, cultural contacts, and regional cooperation, the statement read.

Foreign Minister Khadka will leave Colombo for Kathmandu tomorrow morning.

Nepal defeated Malaysia by six wickets in the Tri-Nation T20 Series on Wednesday. 

Nepal reached the target of 115 runs set by Malaysia in 13.4 overs overs at the loss of four wickets.

Asif Sheikh scored highest 57 runs off 38 balls by hitting one six and seven fours. 

Dilip Nath, who made his debut in the T20, contributed 15 runs of seven balls hitting three boundaries. 

After the second consecutive victory, Nepal's chances of reaching the final have become stronger.

In the first match, Nepal thrashed Papua New Guinea by 15 runs. 

This is Malaysia’s first defeat. Malaysia had also defeated Papua New Guinea in their first game. 

Rohit Paudel scored 12 runs. 

Later, Asif Sheikh and Dipendra Singh Airee made 70 runs in partnership. 

Earlier, Malaysia, who decided to bat first after winning the toss, scored 114 runs in allotted 20 overs by losing eight wickets. 

Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane took two wickets each for Nepal while Airee claimed one wicket.

Likewise, Abinash Bohara and Kushal Malla took one wicket each.

Nepal will play their third match against Papua New Guinea on Thursday.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 40.68 points to close at 2,568.25 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index increased by 8.13 points to close at 480. 06 points.

Meanwhile, a total of 4,502,511 unit shares of 232 companies were traded for Rs 2. 25 billion.

In today’s market, all sub-indices saw green. Development Bank topped the chart with 144.35 points.

Meanwhile, Emerging Nepal Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. NCC Debenture Fund was the top loser as its price fell by 2 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3. 64 trillion.

Brief rain with lightning is likely to occur in some parts of the country in the next three days. 

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division, brief rain with lightning is likely to occur today at some places of Province 1, Madesh Province, Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province of the country. 

Likewise, the weather will be partly to generally cloudy in Province 1, Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province of the country.

There are chances of brief rain with lightning in one or two places of Province 1, Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province.

Now, the country witnesses a general influence of a low-pressure system based in the surroundings of Bihar and the impact of local wind.

The Division has urged one and all to take precautions against rising temperature in the southern plains.   

According to the Division’s latest details, the minimum temperature in the Kathmandu Valley was 17.2 degrees Celsius and the maximum 26.4 degrees Celsius. 

Likewise, Jumla reported the lowest 6.2 degrees Celsius and Nepalgunj recorded the highest 25.5 degrees Celsius across the country today. RSS

Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes scored a clinical double as they beat stubborn visitors North Macedonia 2-0 to qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar after a tense European playoff tie on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Roared on by 50,000 fans at a sold-out Dragao Stadium in Porto, Portugal dominated the game from the start but struggled to break down the strong North Macedonian defence, managing only three shots on target despite having almost 70% possession.

Fernandes opened the scoring 30 minutes into the first half after intercepting a pass by his best friend, North Macedonia captain Stefan Ristovski, working a great one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo before whipping his shot past the goalkeeper.

The 27-year-old attacking midfielder sealed Portugal’s win in the 65th minute, striking home a volley from a Diogo Jota cross, according to Reuters.

Fernando Santos’s team then ran down the clock, celebrating at the final whistle with their joyful fans who remained in the stands for more than 15 minutes after the game, singing as the players completed a victory lap holding a huge Portugal flag.

“I don’t care about individual accomplishments but this display will be one to remember because it helped my country to reach a World Cup,” Fernandes told reporters.

Portugal, who won the 2016 European Championship in France and the 2019 UEFA Nations League at home, qualified for a sixth straight World Cup finals and have now not missed a major international competition in the last 20 years.

“I have already won two competitions and I hope I can win the third one in Qatar,” coach Santos told a news conference.

“There was a spirit of mutual help and great support from the public. It was a deserved and fair win and qualification. I don’t remember any great goalscoring situations for their team.”

They were pushed into the playoffs after finishing second in Group A, having lost their final game at home to Serbia 2-1 last November, Reuters reported.

That had left them needing to win two consecutive elimination games to qualify, with last week’s win over Turkey, where they survived late drama, setting up a decider against North Macedonia, who had stunned Italy in their opening match.

It was a nervous occasion in Porto on Tuesday but Portugal dominated and avoided any surprises from the underdogs, who did not have a shot on target, according to Reuters.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba stressed the need to breathe new life into BIMSTEC by pooling the strengths of resources of its Member States.

Addressing virtually the Fifth Summit of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) held in hybrid mode in and from Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister stated that BIMSTEC must do its part to address the long term economic, social, and developmental consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that the region builds back better.

He further stated that our race to resilience must start with a green, flexible, and inclusive recovery plan. This means action on vaccines, investment in health systems, and expansion of social protection schemes together with structural reforms and quality investment in physical and human capital, he said, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister also touched upon the challenges facing the region and outlined the steps BIMSTEC Members States must take collectively on the sectors of cooperation such as trade, investment, energy, connectivity, climate change and people-to-people contacts.

Underlining that bold climate action was needed before the climate crisis passed the point of no return, he called for making the current crisis a gateway to a greener, safer, and more sustainable Bay of Bengal region, the statement read.

The Prime Minister dubbed Buddhism as a strong connecting thread in the region and called for an early operationalization of the Buddhist circuit connecting Lumbini, birthplace of Gautam Buddha. 

The Summit adopted the BIMSTEC Charter following a virtual signing ceremony. Prime Minister Deuba signed the Charter on behalf of Nepal.

The Summit also endorsed three new instruments.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka, who participated in the Summit in-person in Colombo, signed the ‘BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters’ and the ‘Memorandum of Association on the Establishment of Technology Transfer Facility in Colombo’ on behalf of the Government of Nepal. 

Similarly, Joint Secretary and Head of Regional Organization Division at the Ministry Ghanshyam Bhandari signed the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on the Mutual Cooperation between Diplomatic Academies/Training Institutions of BIMSTEC Member States’, the statement read.

The Nepali delegation led by the Prime Minister included Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka, Principal Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister Bhan Bahadur Deuba, Chief Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal and Senior Officials from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski fired second-half goals to book a place at the World Cup finals in Qatar with a 2-0 win over Sweden in an electrifying playoff tie on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The Poles battled to contain a Sweden side bristling with youthful attacking vigour, but in the end experience told as Lewandowski and his team mates capitalised on mistakes.

After a shaky opening, the Swedes quickly grew into the game and winger Emil Forsberg should have given them the lead but Wojciech Szczesny pulled off the first of a string of fine saves to turn the ball behind for a corner in the 19th minute, according to Reuters.

The home side also struggled as Sweden winger Dejan Kulusevski twice went close before the playoff final turned on a clumsy mistake by Jesper Karlstroem.

The Swedish midfielder mistimed a challenge in the box early in the second half and ended up bundling Poland substitute Grzegorz Krychowiak to the ground, with Italian referee Daniele Orsato immediately pointing to the spot.

Up stepped Poland captain Lewandowski to send Robin Olsen the wrong way as he confidently struck his low spot kick into the net for his 75th international goal.

The Swedes threw caution to the wind and poured forward, with Szczesny getting down smartly to deny Forsberg again and Victor Lindelof sending the resulting corner just wide with a glancing header.

Just as the visitors looked to be on the verge of scoring, a mix-up between Kristoffer Olsson and Marcus Danielson allowed Zielinski to score as he curled the ball into the net at the near post in the 73rd minute, Reuters reported.

The Swedes brought their record scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic off the bench for the final 10 minutes but Szczesny and the Polish defence held firm in front of a capacity crowd to secure their country’s spot at the World Cup.

Defender Kamil Glik was delighted to come out on top in the winner-take-all playoff clash.

“It was new for all of us – for me, for Robert (Lewandowski), who had played many matches but he hadn’t played one like this, none of us had. It was a very tough match from this point of view,” Glik, who played with a muscle injury, told Polish TV.

“I wasn’t interested in what would happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week, next year. All that mattered was the here and now. We won and I’m very happy,” he added.