Muddle over medal

KATHMANDU, Nov 16: Though the government hastily decided to confer the Mahaujjwal Rastradeep medal on visiting Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal on Monday morning, he could not receive the honor due to lack of preparedness.

Prince Talal has said that he will visit Nepal again to receive the medal, according to senior government officials.

When Prince Talal landed at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Saturday evening on a three-day visit to Nepal, government officials were still in confusion as they had not been informed about any decision about the medal.

Delegates accompanying Prince Talal had inquired with MoFA officials present at the airport about the medal shortly after landing. When they learnt that there was no such preparations on the part of the Nepal government, Talal´s aides reportedly expressed their displeasure.

Sources said that some senior MoFA officials later rushed to Hyatt Regency Hotel, where the prince was staying, to apprise him of the technical problems that caused the government´s indecisiveness over conferring the medal.

Prince Talal, who is described by Forbes Magazine as the 19th richest person in the world, reportedly conveyed his displeasure and said that he would fly on to Bhutan and then directly back home on Sunday, cancelling meetings with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and other ministers scheduled for Monday.

Government officials said Prince Talal confirmed his visit to Nepal after Nepali Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Hamid Ansari reportedly assured him that the Nepal government would confer a medal and a doctorate degree on him. MoFA had communicated the assurance to both the Prime Minister´s Office and the Home Ministry some months ago.

Nevertheless, preparations for the medal function could not gather momentum as Home Minister Bhim Rawal, who is chairman of the Decorations Committee, was not positive about the idea, saying that Nepal did not have any precedent of honoring foreign nationals who had not made a substantial contribution to this country.

Talking to media persons after a meeting with Prince Talal at Hotel Yak and Yeti, Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala disclosed that she decided to meet Talal after she learnt that the prince had taken the matter seriously. “We did not want to let this issue harm our bilateral relations,” she told journalists. “I explained to him the technicalities and difficulties that hindered the decision to confer the medal. We are to be blamed for this.”

Though the cabinet approved the designs for medals last year, they are yet to be produced for lack of a necessary budget. “The delay in unveiling the new budget for the current fiscal year has curtailed our effort to get the medals ready on time,” said a top government official, asking to be unnamed.

Officials said the government started preparations for conferring the medal only on Sunday evening. A cabinet meeting held Monday morning took a formal decision to confer the Mahaujjwal Rastradeep medal on the Saudi prince.

Talking to media after the cabinet meeting, Minister for Information and Communication and government spokesperson Shankar Pokharel said the cabinet has decided to recommend Talal´s name to the President for the medal. “We hope this would further strengthen relations between Nepal and Saudi Arabia,” said Pokharel.

There are three orders of government awards, namely Nepal Ratna, Rastra Gaurab and Rastradeep. While Nepal Ratna is given exclusively to Nepali nationals who help uphold the image and dignity of the country, Rastra Gaurab is given to heads of the state of other countries or to Nepali nationals who help promote the image and dignity of Nepal in the international arena.

The Rastradeep award, meant for honoring both Nepali and foreign nationals for their contribution to promoting Nepal´s image, dignity and interests, has a total five categories.

While Mahaujjwal Rastradeep ranks top in the category, Ujjwal Kirtimaya Rastradeep, Sukirtimaya Rastradeep, Kirtiman Rastradeep and Rastradeep are ranked second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.

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