Foreign aid should benefit the poor, say Maoists

In their first official interaction with the representatives of donor community, the Maoist leaders tried to clarify their economic policy saying that they are in favour of foreign assistance that are targeted to benefit the poor.

"We are proud we created a new political situation in the country. Now we want to more rationalize our priorities," said Maoist chairman Prachanda at a program coordinated by the World Bank Nepal office.

Dr. Baburam Bhattarai delivered statement about Maoists' economic agenda laying emphasis on the need to transform the country's current 'dependency stage' to capitalist stage. He said that Nepal currently was in a feudal stage of economic development.

Dr. Bhattarai said his party stressed on redistribution of land in order to usher in commercialization of agriculture and industrialization. He said the Maoists were not for totalitarian policies.

Dr. Bhattarai also added that his party had the necessary political will to take action against big wilful defaulters of bank loans. He also said that his party still had major differences on economic issues with other parties such as Nepali Congress.

The program was attended by representatives of embassies of Denmark, Finland, World Bank, Canadian Cooperation and Asian Development Bank. nepalnews.com sd Dec 23 06