Nepal Maoist PM to mix business, pleasure in China

Prachanda, who supports free market reforms, will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao, and is expected to discuss ways to resuscitate his country ravaged by a decade of civil war that killed 13,000 people and devastated the economy, officials said.

A rebel who once led a guerrilla army in the jungles and mountains of Nepal, Prachanda reiterated his commitment to democracy and private investment on Saturday.

“We’ll follow multi-party competition, periodic elections, human rights and press freedom,” Prachanda said in a televised address.

“The new government will follow the public-private partnership model for economic development and promote industrial peace, create jobs and ensure smooth supply of consumer goods.”

Foreign investment would be encouraged in areas of ‘national priority’, he said, reading from a Nepali text at his fortified office, a picture of Mount Everest hanging on a wall behind him.

The Maoists signed a landmark peace deal in 2006 after the government agreed to abolish the country’s 239-year-old monarchy, declare Nepal a republic and hold election to a special assembly that would write a new constitution.

But analysts say the immediate challenge facing Prachanda’s government was the rehabilitation of more than 19,000 fomer Maoist fighters for a lasting peace.