Ex-US Prez Carter to visit Nepal from Jun 13

Kathmandu, June 13: Former US president and chairman of Carter Foundation Jimmy Carter is arriving here today on a four-day visit.

President Carter, 2002 Nobel Peace Laureate and co-founder of the Center, will lead a delegation including former US Ambassador A Peter Burleigh, and Carter Center Democracy Programme Director David Carroll, according to Nepal office of the Carter Centre.

The delegation will meet with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, political party leaders, representatives of civil society organisations and marginalised groups, Election Commission , it is said.

"He will visit the country from June 13-16 to encourage its political leaders to continue on the path of peace as they prepare to hold constituent assembly elections later in 2007", according to a press statement of the Carter Center.

The delegation will also receive updates from the Center's long-term election observers who have been deployed throughout Nepal since March.

The Carter Center was formally invited by the Nepal Government to observe the constituent assembly election process and is the only international election observation organisation currently deployed, the press statement said.

The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former US president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.

A not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation, the Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 65 countries by resolving conflicts, advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity, preventing diseases, improving mental health care, and teaching farmers to increase crop production.

UNI