500 investors to participate in the Investment Summit

Kathmandu, Feb. 26: The government has decided to include nine major investment areas in the Nepal Investment Summit, slated for March 2 and 3 in Kathmandu.

Investment sectors with high yield potential, such as energy and infrastructure, information and information technology, tourism, financial sector, mines and minerals, and agro-processing industry will be discussed in the summit.

“To attract investors, we have selected the areas of comparative and competitive advantage. The government has prepared the details of the potential projects in those sectors,” said Minister fro Industry Nabindra Raj Joshi while speaking at a press conference organised on the eve of the summit.

According to the Ministry, more than 500 investors will participate in the two-day conference.

“Till now, 235 foreign companies have registered to participate in the summit. Of them 89 are Chinese, 21 Indian, 20 Sri Lankan, 14 Malaysian, 13 Japanese, 12 Canadian, 12 Hong Konger, and eight each from the United Kingdom, South Korea and Vietnam,” said Joshi.

More than 300 Nepalese investors will also participate in the summit.  

The Minister said that more than Rs. 100 billion investment commitment was expected from the summit.

“During my various foreign trips, I found that many foreign investors are interested to invest in Nepal. Therefore, we need to find a better way to bring them there,” he said.

To implement the commitments and decisions made during the summit, the government has formed four committees under Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission, Investment Board of Nepal and Ministry of Industry.

They are Project Bank Revision Committee, Policy Reform Committee, Industrial Promotion Committee and Overall Coordination Committee respectively.

The conference is being organised with the theme of ‘Harnessing Investment Opportunities in Nepal’ and with the objective of luring foreign investors by promoting various business and investment opportunities in the country.

The Investment Board of Nepal is the coorganiser of the event.

The Summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and president of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun will deliver key note speeches.