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The inaugural session of the fourth summit of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has begun. Chairperson of the fourth summit, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the session as the head of government of the host nation Nepal. The Prime Minister stated that an early conclusion of the agreements on trade in goods, trade in services, investment, mutual assistance in customs matters, dispute settlement and trade facilitation is the need of hour to enable BIMSTEC to effectively move forward. “All the Member States of BIMSTEC are connected with Buddhism in one way or the other. I underline the importance of developing and operating a Buddhist Circuit in the region to promote connectivity and tourism,” PM Oli said. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Chief Justice of Bhutan Tshering Wangchuk who is also the Chief Advisor to the intertim government of Bhutan, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of...

Major Announcements Loan up to Rs 7 lakhs against academic certificate at 5% interest rate Expansion of health insurance throughout the country Senior citizen ward operation in hospitals to be brought into operation. Nepal to be declared fully literate in 2 years. Lunch to be provided to students upto 5th grade in districts with low living standard. Technical level education in all local levels. Allocation of 1 kharba 34 arba in Science and Technology related education. Availability of air-ambulance in inaccessible places for emergency delivery of pregnant women.  Establishment of at least one Old-age home in each province. 1 arba 88 crore 12 lakh budget for welfare of women and children. Health insurance worth upto 1 lakh for senior citizen above 70 years age. Construction of model agricultural farm in all 7 provinces. Loan taken by farmer from Sana Kisan Sahakari to be waived. Digitization of land ownership certificate within 2 years. Buying and selling of l...

Alibaba, the Chinese internet giant, has expanded its e-com­merce empire into South Asia after acquiring Daraz in an undisclosed deal. Daraz Group, a leading e-commerce company in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myan­mar and Bangladesh, was fully acquired by Alibaba to become a member of Alibaba Group. Daraz was founded in 2012 by Rocket Internet, and it is the sec­ond time Alibaba has bought a Rocket company, the first being Lazada in Southeast Asia two years ago. The deal is part of Ali­baba’s second wave of interna­tional expansions into South Asia. With the acquisition, Daraz will be able to leverage Alibaba’s lead­ership and experience in tech­nology, online commerce and operation to drive further growth in the five South Asian markets that have a combined population of over 460 million, 60 percent of which is under the age of 35. Daraz will continue to operate under the same brand name.