Kathmandu, Jan. 24: As the country is passing through a difficult time, it needs "strong support and extra assistance" from the international community to prevent its economy from adverse effects due to internal and external factors, said Minister for Finance Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat at a programme here today.

Addressing the concluding function of the Nepal Development Forum (NDF)-2002 preparatory meeting, Minister Dr. Mahat assured that the government was fully committed to alleviate poverty by introducing necessary reform measures and consolidating the process of good governance.

Regarding the development efforts of Nepal, Dr. Mahat urged all to be "judicious and helpful" and see as to why the pace of its economic development is slow.

"Of course, we could have done much better in the past, but still our Human Development Index is one of the best among the developing countries in the region," Minister Dr. Mahat affirmed.

Referring to the speakers' comment about the government's role for the effective utilisation of foreign aid, he said coordination among donor and recipient was essential for the effective utilisation of aid.

"We are yet to develop an action plan. But we are putting our best efforts to improve our governance and management," he maintained.

Pointing out the remarks made by some experts, Dr. Mahat stressed the need to encourage good performance of the government. The present arrangement of debt relief fund and the poverty reduction fund can be expected to yield desired outcome to reduce the level of poverty, he said.

"More than 60 per cent of the development budget comes from the external sources and we are committed to properly utilising of the budget," he noted.

Presenting the policy paper on Foreign Aid, Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Dr. Bimal Prasad Koirala said that lack of ownership by the beneficiaries of development projects and programmes, financed by donors, lack of leadership and direction by recipients in expenditure prioritisation and large responsibility in designing, preparing and implementing projects and programmes have created problems.

Secretary Koirala further said that the foreign aid policy forms an integral part of the overall policy of mobilising resources for development.

Ken Ohashi of the World Bank said that the strong leadership would be a solution for the effective utilisation of foreign aid.

Ingrid Ofstad, Ambassador of Norway, while presenting her paper, said that donors should encourage recipient partners to formulate their own development strategies-setting out local priorities, plans and instruments for implementing such strategies.

There is a growing global concern about the need to improve the impact of development cooperation on poverty reduction, she said.

Former minister and leader of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Kamal Thapa stressed the need to develop coordination between non-governmental organisations and international-non-governmental organisations for development.

Dr. Shankar Sharma, member of the National Planning Commission (NPC) stressed the need for effective utilisation of foreign aid.

A representative from CARE Nepal said that the coordination between the government and the non-government organisations is essential.

Prof. Lok Raj Baral noted that the recipient of the foreign aid should be more accountable.