Nepal's merchandise trade balance

Nepal's merchandise trade balance has improved somewhat since 2000 with the growth of the carpet and garment industries. In FY 2000-01 exports posted a greater increase (14%) than imports (4.5%), helping bring the trade deficit down by 4% from the previous year to $749 million. Trade with India rose rapidly after conclusion of the 1996 bilateral trade treaty between the two countries, and now accounts for 43% of all exports. Indian efforts to revise the treaty, which comes up for a 5-year review in December 2001, could dampen Nepal's export growth. The annual monsoon rain, or lack of it, strongly influences economic growth. From 1996 to 1999, real GDP growth averaged less than 4%. The growth rate recovered in 1999, rising to 6% before slipping slightly in 2001 to 5.5%.

Strong export performance, including earnings from tourism, and external aid have helped improve the overall balance-of-payments situation and increase international reserves. Nepal receives substantial amounts of external assistance from India, the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. Several multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the UN Development Programme also provide assistance. In June 1998, Nepal submitted its memorandum on a foreign trade regime to the World Trade Organization and in May 2000 began direct negotiations on its accession.

An isolated agrarian society

An isolated, agrarian society until the mid-20th century, Nepal entered the modern era in 1951 without schools, hospitals, roads, telecommunications, electric power, industry, or civil service. The country has, however, made progress toward sustainable economic growth since the 1950s and is committed to a program of economic liberalization.

Nepal has used a series of five-year plans in an attempt to make progress in economic development. It completed its ninth economic development plan in 2002; its currency has been made convertible, and 17 state enterprises have been privatized. Foreign aid accounts for more than half of the development budget. Government priorities over the years have been the development of transportation and communication facilities, agriculture, and industry. Since 1975, improved government administration and rural development efforts have been emphasized.

Agriculture remains Nepal's principal economic activity, employing 80% of the population and providing 37% of GDP. Only about 20% of the total area is cultivable; another 33% is forested; most of the rest is mountainous. Rice and wheat are the main food crops. The lowland Terai region produces an agricultural surplus, part of which supplies the food-deficient hill areas.

Travel 2.0, was used as early as December 200

Travel 2.0, was used as early as December 2003 on a posting on the Planeta Web 2.0 Discussion Forum and is an offshoot of the phenomenon. Like many other industries, the online travel industry is currently in transition, adapting to new technologies and trends available on theTravelers, for their part, are becoming increasingly more interested in finding the opinions and reviews of their fellow travelers in lieu of professional travel advice. . This impact is significant given the travel sector's economic influence on the Internet, indeed more money is spent on travel than anything else online. Roughly two-thirds of Americans research and plan travel online and approximately the same amount book online as well.The online travel industry breaks down into several different categories: online travel agents, online travel guides, online travel planners, and online travel communities and forums.Together, these four groups make up the bulk of what are considered Travel 2.0 companies.

Travel 2.0 is a term that represents the extension and customization of the concept of Web 2.0 into a form that applies to the world’s largest industry: travel and tourism. It defines a transformation of online offerings into a new level of user empowerment and functionality. More than “Move to the Internet” as a platform, though, it is about how business forces that characterized Web 1.0 are yielding power, influence and eyeballs to the socially oriented Web 2.0. For Web 2.0, Tim O’Reilly described the following new models or different approaches that illustrated the divide between 2.0 and 1.0

Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes

Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the northeast ridge from Tibet, as well as many other less frequently climbed routes. Of the two main routes, the southeast ridge is technically easier and is the more frequently-used route. It was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and the first recognised of fifteen routes to the top by 1996. This was, however, a route decision dictated more by politics than by design as the Chinese border was closed to foreigners in 1949. Reinhold Messner (Italy) summited the mountain solo for the first time, without supplementary oxygen or support, on the more difficult Northwest route via the North Col to the North Face and the Great Couloir, on August 20 1980. He climbed for three days entirely alone from his base camp at 6500 meters. This route has been noted as the 8th climbing route to the summit.

Most attempts are made during May before the summer monsoon season. A change in the jet stream at this time of year reduces the average wind speeds high on the mountain. While attempts are sometimes made after the monsoons in September and October, the additional snow deposited by the monsoons and the less stable weather patterns makes climbing more difficult.

First successful ascent by Tenzing and Hillary

In 1953, a ninth British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt to reach the summit. The first pair (Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans) came within 300 feet of the summit on 26 May, but turned back after becoming exhausted. Two days later, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with its second climbing pair. The summit was eventually reached at 11:30 a.m. local time on May 29, 1953 by the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal climbing the South Col Route. At the time, both acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit first.They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.

News of the expedition's success reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. Returning to Kathmandu a few days later, Hillary and Hunt discovered that they had been promptly knighted in the Order of the British Empire for their efforts. Hunt was ultimately made a life peer in Britain, while Hillary became a founding member of the Order of New Zealand. Tenzing was granted the George Medal for his efforts.