'PM Dahal's visit fruitful for trade and investment'

Kathmandu, Sept. 28: Minister for Commerce Romi Gauchan Thakali Wednesday said that the recent visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda to India had opened new avenues for diplomatic, trade and investment relations between the two nations.

Speaking at a seminar on “PM Dahal’s India visit:  impact on bilateral trade, business and investment”, he termed the visit successful in rebuilding trust and mutual understanding between the two neighbours.

“The visit was primarily focused on timely implementation of all understandings and agreements made earlier. Both countries have agreed to expedite the implementation of Power Trade Agreement (PTA), Raxaul-Amlekhgunj petroleum pipeline and many other projects,” said Thakali.

Chief executive officer of the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) Maha Prasad Adhikari said that the visit helped the Nepalese business community and policy makers to understand value of Indian investors.

“A clear message about the investment environment in the country has been delivered to the potential Indian investors. We urged them for more investment as the Indian investment in Nepal was doing extremely well,” he said.

Adhikari stated that the Indian investors wanted to establish centers of excellence in Nepal.

Indian ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae maintained that there were numerous high level exchanges between Nepal and India at the state level in the last two years which amply suggested that both the nations had attached importance to bilateral relations.

He said: "The significance of visit is in its problem solving."

“Hydropower and service sector are key to Nepal’s economic growth. Nepal can be a good tourist destination for the Indian people,” he said.

Rae emphasized developing Hindu and Buddhism circuit covering religious centres in both the countries.

He suggested that both the country should set trade target for next five or ten years and work to meet the target.

Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Chandra Ghimire urged to activate sectoral business and trade mechanism to attract more investment to Nepal and increase the export size.

President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Hari Bhakta Sharma said that Nepal needed to work on marketing Nepalese goods and services in the international markets including India.

According to Sharma, agro-processing industry had a huge potential in the country.

Chairman of the Hydro Committee of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Gyanendra Lal Pradhan said that the implementation of BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal) Motor Vehicle Agreement would increase the mobility of goods and people and increase the size of intra-regional trade.

The programme was organized by the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs.