IBN, UNDP sign MoU to promote investment, improve service delivery

Kathmandu, Mar. 22

The Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) and UNDP in Nepal have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to forge cooperation in the areas of mutual interest.

Chief Executive Officer of the IBN Sushil Bhatta and UNDP’s Resident Representative in Nepal, Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe signed the MoU on Tuesday.

The two organisations have expected that the MoU would support achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by fulfilling the financing gap by promoting investment in Nepal through public private partnership (PPP) and blended finance.

The MoU also mentions enhancing the institutional capacity, and promoting private investment and PPP model in the country. It also includes the issues like conducting studies on social and environment impact assessment standards in project development, and formulation of project development agreement (PDA) and project investment agreement (PIA), and establishing support in such activities.

According to the MoU, the UNDP will also support the investment body in the development of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to make the service of the board more effective.

CEO Bhatta said that the MoU had boosted hopes in investment promotion. He stressed on the cooperation in the areas of internal capacity building of the board, minimization of risks for the investors and promotion of viability.

UNDP’s Medagangoda-Labe said that the cooperation with the IBN will play an important role in the capacity building of the three levels of the government. 

Published in The Rising Nepal dialy on 23 March 2022.