Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has expressed determination to host the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Kathmandu. He labeled the instruction of the International Relations Committee of the parliament to not host the event unwarranted and claimed that the event would be hosted in favorable time.
He opined that the committee's instruction based on rumors will not be acceptable to the government. He reasoned that the government is hosting the event as it will be helpful in making Visit Nepal Year 2020 a success.
"The government is ready to host the event in favorable time if it is good and beneficial for the government," he stressed. "It will not be hosted in a way that the country will be harmed."
He expressed displeasure with the parliamentary committee accusing it of publicizing as if hosting the event will ruin everything even as the issue was still under discussion,.
Deepak Raj Joshi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) that has been handed responsibility to coordinate the hosting of event, on Thursday had told Setopati that it has decided to immediately stop all preparations.
CEO Joshi said preparations will be stopped due to that instruction and in respect of public sentiments. "We had taken the event as an opportunity for tourism promotion and branding. But we have decided to stop it feeling it is not the appropriate time to host the event due to the instruction of parliamentary committee and other political and social reasons," he added.
Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Baskota during the weekly press conference last week on Thursday had said the event will be hosted in a way that the NTB and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) are joint co-organizers. The event was scheduled for the last week of August.
