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- The Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF), a China-based organisation, last month unveiled plans to build highways, hotels, tourism centres and power projects to transform Lumbini, the Buddha's birthplace, into a major tourist hub
- While the APECF had signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Beijing, the U.N. agency said in a statement this week it had “not entered into any valid contractual agreement with the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF), and therefore is not involved in any activities related to the Lumbini Special Development Zone in Nepal”.
