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Roundtable Meeting of Chief Justices and Ministers of Justice : Country Statements
Statement by Hon. Prem Bahadur Singh, Minister for Law and Justice, NepalMr. Chairman, Honourable Chief Justices, Distinguished Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Asian Development Bank for inviting me on such august gathering of Chief Justices and Ministers of Justice from the Asia and Pacific region. I also have the privilege to take this opportunity to extend my warm greetings and good wishes to all the honourable Chief Justices, distinguished Ministers and executive members and staff of the Asian Development Bank present here. I would like to appreciate the Bank's initiation in convening such Meeting on a very important topic like "Legal and Judicial Reform in Asia: Agenda for the New Millennium" and its efforts to discuss principal trends in legal and judicial reform in its developing member countries and to relate these to the Bank's technical assistance to such countries in support of such reforms. Nepal, as a developing member country of the Bank, has been benefitting from the co-operation and considerations of the Bank since our being a member of it. The Bank's technical assistance towards policy formulation, legal and regulatory frameworks, government infrastructure development, capacity building, legal reforms and institutional development, protection of the environment, public and private sector reforms, training to judges and judicial personnel as well as government lawyers etc. are really appreciable works which it is said are performed in many developing member countries. It would definitely serve the purpose of the Bank, if not the desire and demand of developing member countries. It further contributes to the economic development of developing member countries with contemporary approach and recent trends of the world. As I learned, many developing member countries have been beneficiaries of such assistance of the Bank. However, I could not read the name of my country Nepal in the summary books and the discussion paper of the Bank which made me confused whether it was because of reluctance of the Bank or because of the policy of the then government of Nepal at Panchayat System. May I therefore draw the attention of this august gathering and the Bank that the time has now come to pay proper attention for overall development including legal research and development to initiate and create proper environment to be compatibly developed with other development member countries as our people have regained multiparty democracy after 30 years in the country. A great many changes and reforms can be seen in Nepal in legal and judicial sectors after the promulgation of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal in 1990. The Constitution guarantees the fundamental and basic human rights conducive to various international human rights instruments and provides implementation mechanisms for them. Meanwhile, Nepal has become a party to many important international human rights conventions and protocols. I may say, Nepal has become the first country in South Asia to become a party to the Convention Against Torture in line of which compensation mechanism has been provided to torture victims in our domestic laws. A law has recently been enacted to establish a permanent and independent Human Rights Commission in Nepal. To secure the independence of judiciary, our Constitution provides several measures and mechanisms for implementation. A number of laws has been enacted to fulfill the constitutional requirements with democratic norms and values. The faith and confidence of people in courts are increasing significantly. However, it has been realised that there are still many things to be done for improving institutional capabilities of the judiciary and government administrative as well as regulatory agencies, for which purpose, we might need cooperation and assistance within and outside the country including the Bank's generosity. Apart from the above-mentioned judicial reforms, a great many changes have been initiated in respect of the laws of the development sector in Nepal. To enhance industrial enterprises, a new Industrial Enterprises Act has been made which provides various facilities to private entrepreneurs. A separate Foreign Investment and Technology of Transfer Act has been enacted and timely modified to attract and provide security to the foreign investment and technology. To privatize public undertakings, a Privatization Act has been made to regulate the privatization procedures, under which some public corporations have already been privatized and several such entities are in process to be privatized. To introduce private investment and attract foreign investors in hydropower generation, two different Acts namely the Water Resources Act and Electricity Act as well as their regulatory laws have been promulgated. Although it is quite a new thing for us and several measures are yet to be taken, responses of foreign investors in this regard are encouraging us. I may say, Bank's focus on enhancement of institutional capacity for successful negotiation and providing training and skills to government lawyers in such new and compound areas would be a milestone to develop the confidence of developing member countries like ours. There are still many things remaining to be done to liberalize our economy in compliance with the global trends and to gear up the rate of economic growth and development. The initiated programmes definitely require legal frameworks, reforms and skilled, qualified and efficient manpower. We have yet to enact anti-trust laws, to modify and up-date anti-corruption laws and regulation, to improve the status of women, to modify arbitration and banking laws, and to analyze and assess the impact and effect of many development laws and regulations being implemented. We are thinking to become a party to the New York Convention on Recognition of Foreign Arbitral Awards and other international instruments enhancing foreign investment and attracting transnational corporations in our development activities. Despite our keen willingness and efforts towards the judicial and legal reforms, the lack of resources and skilled manpower are creating hurdles in translating our ambit into reality: As the Ministry of Law & Justice and its officials are catalytic in providing legal advice to the governmental agencies on different issues relating to national and international laws, they are really in need of technical assistance of the Bank in mitigating present and future challenges. I hope this august gatherings being held at the initiation of the Bank will prove to be an important forum for the Chief Justices and Ministers of Justice to be familiarized with each other about their trends of judicial and legal reforms being initiated in each other's respective country and about the scope of the Bank's technical assistance for such reforms. Finally, I extend my thanks to the Bank for the keen concern it has shown about the law and development of its member countries having organised this sort of meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, once again for giving this opportunity.
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