Nepali new PM delivers 1st live TV speech

By Xinhua,

Kathmandu : Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, the first elected prime minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M), delivered his first live TV speech as prime minister on Saturday morning.


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In his message to the countrymen, Prachanda laid heavy emphasis on promotion and consolidation of nationalism, republic and socio-economic change.

“Certainly, there are high expectations from the public from the new government. We will fulfill their aspirations by working in objective and planned manner. For which, we have outlined a number of national priority issues,” he said.

The cabinet of the republic was formed on Friday afternoon, while Prachanda was just sworn in on Monday.

“First and foremost is the protection of national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. If Nepal does not exist, then there is no meaning for anything else including the republic. But we have to strengthen the national unity based on full equality among people from Himal, Pahad, Terai and Madhes,” he said.

“I want to extend full commitment towards modern democratic principles like multi-party competition, period elections, rule of law,” he said.

Prachanda leading his CPN-M signed comprehensive peace accord with the then government in November, 2006, ending the decade long civil war since February, 1996. CPN-M emerged as the single largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) after April elections.

“Our attention will be concentrated on addressing socio-economic issues such as poverty, unemployment and so on. We will work to bring about modern industrial economy for which private-public partnership model will be followed,” he said.

Prachanda said the new government will encourage foreign investments in priority sectors including agriculture, tourism, water resources and infrastructure.

“The industrial peace will be maintained by improving relations between labor and employers,” he said, adding that the government will address the problem of high market prices, which is affecting the ordinary people.

“Taking the peace process to logical conclusion and writing constitution on time is the main task of this government,” he said.

CPN-M senior leaders Kiran and C.P. Gajurel also told Xinhua reporter in former interviews that the CPN-M-led government will lay priority on constitution drafting and leading the peace process to logical conclusion.

“This government also has huge challenges. We need the support and cooperation from army, police, administration, international community and general public to meet the challenges,” Prachanda also appealed to security organs for their support.

During the civil war, over 13,000 people lost their lives.

The Prime Minister also asked for support from his party’s armed force, “the People’s Liberation Army”, families of martyrs and promised them of full cooperation.

Prachanda has also urged the international community, particularly the neighboring countries, to provide “moral and physical” support during the “historic transition” of Nepal.

“We will follow the Panchasheel (the five principles of peaceful co-existence) in building our relations with all the countries including our neighbors,” he said.

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