July 12: The Government of Nepal and the Government of Japan have signed a grant agreement for the implementation of the third phase of the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS).

Finance Secretary Arjun Prasad Pokharel and Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Kikuta Yutaka signed the agreement amid a formal program held at the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.

According to the agreement, the Japanese government will provide a grant of Rs 385 million (424 million Japanese yen) as scholarships for civil servants in 2023 and 2024.

This grant money will be used for postgraduate and PhD level scholarships for the civil servants. The Japanese government has been providing such assistance to Nepal since 2015.

Under the JDS program, Japan has provided scholarships to 100 civil servants in two phases from 2016 to 2022. Under the third phase of this scholarship program, 20 civil servants will be able to study master's degree and two people will be able to study at the PhD level.

Shree Krishna Nepal, head of the International Economic Coordination Division under the Ministry of Finance, and Lizuka Kenichiro, a senior representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), were present during the signing ceremony.