Highly placed sources told Republica that a cabinet meeting on Monday morning will recommend President Dr Ram Baran Yadav to confer the medal on the visiting Saudi Prince, the 19th richest person in the world with a fortune of US $ 19.4 billion. [break]
Sources further said that the cabinet meeting will also determine the category of the Rastradip to be conferred on the Saudi Prince.
"Nepal wants to impress the visiting Prince by conferring a highest medal because he is an investor besides being a royal from the country where five hundred thousand Nepalis work," said a government official.
Officials said the Saudi billionaire is interested to make investments in tourism industry and hydropower in Nepal.
Though the medal will not be ready before the Saudi Prince leaves Nepal Tuesday, President Dr Yadav will announce the medal during his meeting with the Saudi Prince Monday afternoon.
Talal, nephew of the Saudi King Abdullah, will be the first foreign national to be honored with the Rastradip since the country became republic in May 2008.
Officials at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs had prepared groundwork to send a proposal to this effect to the cabinet, according to a government source.
Nicknamed as Warren Buffet, an American industrialist and philanthropist, by Time magazine, Talal, also a philanthropist, arrived in Kathmandu Saturday evening for a private visit. On Monday, he visited Bhutan and returned Kathmandu in the evening.
The Saudi Prince is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Tuesday evening. Before that, Talal is due to hold a meeting with ministers and secretaries to discuss prospects of investments in Nepal.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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