ISTANBUL - Nepal's finance minister promised the Asian Development Bank (ADB) here Thursday that his country would implement all aid agreements and restore democracy in three years despite the king's takeover in February.
Minister Madhukar Shumshere J.B. Rana told the ADB annual meeting in Istanbul that his government would carry out reforms "towards making the economy market driven by providing full political space for the private sector."
Speaking to finance officials from the 62 other ADB member nations, Rana said that "in three years, we will find Nepal a peaceful, multi-party constitutional democracy."
He said the Nepalese government was "fully and sincerely committed to implementing the aid agreements in their letter and spirit," despite King Gyanedra's takeover.
Faced with a bloody, nine-year Maoist rebellion, the monarch declared a state of emergency, suspended most civil liberties and jailed thousands of political opponents and activists.
Although he recently lifted the state of emergency, the king still rules without an elected government and hundreds of dissidents remain in prison.
Rana defended the king's actions, saying they were needed to fight terrorism and to avoid worsening civil strife.
He also called on aid donors to provide humanitarian assistance to as many as 600,000 people displaced by the insurgency.
Despite the conflict, he stressed, Nepal has been able to lower the level of poverty and maintain macroeconomic stability.
Officials earlier said that the ADB, a multilateral aid agency, has not released any new loans or grants to Nepal since the king's takeover, but is maintaining the projects that have already been launched there.
05/05/2005 17:55 GMT