Biratnagar, Oct 13: The inter-province chief ministers’ conference organized by the Koshi Province government kicked off here today.
The Chief Ministers of Koshi Province, Hikmat Kumar Karki, Gandaki Province, Surendra Raj Pandey, Bagmati Province, Kiran Thapa Magar, Madhesh Province, Krishna Prasad Yadav, Lumbini Province, Chet Narayan Acharya, and Karnali Province, Mangal Bahadur Shahi collectively inaugurated the two-day conference here today.
The conference is expected to make the federal governance system more effective and strengthen cooperation, coordination, and collaboration between provinces, contributing significantly to the effective implementation of federalism based on cooperation, coexistence, and coordination as envisioned by the constitution.
Similarly, the organizer said discussion will be held during the conference on the experiences, successful practices, and shared challenges encountered during the practice and implementations by the provinces, effective use of constitutionally granted provincial powers, clarity of rights and responsibilities among the federal, provincial, and local levels, necessary legal and policy reforms, effective implementation of fiscal federalism, and utilization of provincial resources.
Taranath Niraula, Vice-Chair of the Koshi Province Planning Commission, said that the important objectives of the conference include identifying and implementing development projects and programmes of common interest between provinces, inter-provincial infrastructure development, facilitating trade and investment, fair use and benefit sharing of natural resources, and cooperation in disaster management.
The gathering also aims at exchanging innovative practices in good governance and public service delivery, making provincial government performance more effective, and ensuring quality public service delivery in a way that citizens can feel it, bringing development achievements to the people, and utilizing the potential to increase internal revenue of the provinces.
Koshi Province Chief Minister Karki said that national capital needs to be developed for the fundamental change and development of the country. He emphasized that by extensively developing the agriculture and tourism sectors, national capital can be built, which will create jobs and boost the country’s economic growth.
Chief Minister Karki said that the country is having to face disasters every year because of climate change, and without the support and cooperation of the private sector, there won’t be enough help in developing the economy. He stated that today’s conference would help provide future guidelines and emphasized the interconnectedness between the provinces needs to be stronger.
Karnali Province Chief Minister Shahi said that it is necessary for the provinces to coordinate with each other to strengthen federalism in a coordinated way. He believed that federalism will be strengthened through the exchange of experiences and opportunities between provinces. Shahi said that Karnali Province has made a lot of progress in development, infrastructure, and services.
Lumbini Province Chief Minister Acharya emphasized that federalism is necessary for the country to achieve prosperity and highlighted that the provincial government is working on essential tasks to improve people’s living standards.
Gandaki Province Chief Minister Pandey expressed that major political parties have not shown honesty towards federalism and emphasized the centralized governmental system has weakened the provinces. He stated that the province would no longer wait for the federal government to make the necessary laws, citing the lack of laws has caused problems in delivering services to the people.
Bagmati Province Chief Minister Thapamagar said that the province has not been able to meet the needs and desires of the people due to obstacles in institutional development, and that the Bagmati Province is facing many disaster events caused by climate change.
He emphasized the need for collective commitment to reduce the destructive events caused by climate change and stressed that the federal government should not delay in making laws for the province’s economic prosperity.
The conference, which will continue until tomorrow, is attended by the chief attorneys, the vice-chairpersons of the provincial policy and planning commission and the chief secretaries of the provincial governments of all seven provinces. (RSS)