The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will continue to support Nepal's economic reform and development agenda while the country strives to complete the ongoing peace and constitution drafting process, said ADB Vice President of Operations, Xiaoyu Zhao, at the end his three-day visit to the country.

"The scaling up of ADB's assistance to Nepal in the recent years testifies to ADB's strong commitment to Nepal's development and poverty reduction efforts," said Zhao.

During his meetings with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and other senior government officials, Zhao stressed that it was crucial for the Government of Nepal to stay on course  on economic reforms to reduce poverty, address development challenges and work to achieve sustainable economic growth  for ongoing peace and stability.

During his visit, Zhao also visited the Melamchi Water Supply Project, where he congratulated the Government  for its commitment to  complete the project, and said ADB is pleased that the tunneling work  is  progressing well on all fronts. He also said ADB remains committed to providing necessary support to the Government to ensure that the project is completed despite the long delays it has  experienced.

During his visit to Nepal, Zhao also met with the Minister of Finance, Minister of Environment, Chief Secretary and other senior Government officials. nepalnews.com