“The country has huge potential
in agriculture, tourism, hydropower, industry and infrastructure sector. These
are the foundation of our development, progress and prosperity,” he said at the
Annual Day ceremony of the Society of Economic Journalists-Nepal (SEJON).
He was of the view that the
development of agriculture, tourism and hydropower was the key to the poverty
alleviation through employment generation.
However, he maintained that in
order to achieve the higher rate of growth, Nepal should attract investment by
improving business environment and developing infrastructure such as hydropower
and road network.
Saying that the government had given
due priority to improving the investment climate and infrastructure
development, the Vice President pointed towards the need of cooperation and
coordination between the government and private sector.
VP Pun said that the youth should look for
entrepreneurship opportunities in the country rather than leaving it in search
of jobs abroad.
“This is our country and we
should develop it. Banks are offering concessional loans for the tourism and
agro-enterprises, youth should utilize the opportunity and help to crate
employment instead of being a worker abroad,” he said.
He expressed serious concerns about
the growing trade deficit and import of vegetable and rice. “It is shameful
that Nepal ,
a country with the potential to grow almost everything on its soil, has been
importing agro-products in a large quantity,” he remarked.
Minister for Energy Janardan
Sharma said that the energy was the basis for other economic development.
“Therefore, the government has
launched a scheme ‘Nepal ’s
water, Nepalese investment’ to attract investment to develop hydropower
projects,” he said.
Minister for Physical
Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak said that the government was serious
about conducting the three elections within the timeframe spelt out in the
constitution.
He said that without the
principle of distribution and discipline, democracy would be lame and wouldn’t
function properly.
Nepal Rastra Bank governor Dr.
Chiranjibi Nepal
said that the inflation was under control at the rate of 6.7 per cent and the
central bank had reserve of foreign currency sufficient enough to buy goods for
14 months.
He urged the youth to utilize
the concessional loans and create business.
On the occasion, SEJON Award
2016 was conferred to Ramesh Kumar of Himal Khabar Patrika and Hari Prasad
Adhikari ‘Kiran’ of Radio Kantipur for the best investigative economic stories
in the print and electronic media respectively.
Likewise, SEJON awarded fellowship
to four journalists – Udhav Thapa of nepalipatra.com, Sunita Karki of Arthako
Artha, Sagar Ghimire of Republica and Binaya Banjara of Naya Patrika. The
fellowship was given with the financial assistance of the Himalayan Bank
Limited.
On the occasion, VP Pun unveiled
SEJON’s annual publication ‘Arthaneeti’.
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