August 20, 2008

Japanese Communist Party International Bureau Director Ogata Yasuo on August 18 had a meeting with Madhav Kumar Nepal, chief of the International Department of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), at the JCP head office in Tokyo. The two exchanged views on political and social situations in their respective countries as well as on the activities of both parties.

Ogata touched on various issues, including poverty and social disparities as well as problems facing young people in Japan as an advanced capitalist country. He also talked about the state of Japanese social movements and the effort to increase JCP membership and the readership of Akahata.

Nepal, former CPN-UML general secretary and former Nepalese vice-prime minister, said that the Constituent Assembly election in May put an end to the country’s 240-year-old monarchy. He added that a process toward establishing a new Nepalese constitution is about to begin in preparation for the inauguration of a new government in which the CPN-UML will take part.

Also present at the meeting were: Nepalese Constituent Assembly members Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, UML Central Committee member Rajendra Shrestha, and Nepalese Ambassador to Japan Ganesh Yonjan Tamang. - Akahata, August 20, 2008