PM urges Chinese investors to grab business opportunities

Beijing, Sept. 24

Prime  Minister  Pushpa  Kamal  Dahal  'Prachanda' and Nepali private sector have  assured  the  Chinese  business-persons and investors of  the immense investment  potential  and  security  in  Nepal. “The business environment has been improved  with  the  establishment  of   one-door  service  centre  and  adoption  of   policy  reform  initiatives  as  well  as  energy   assurance,”   Prime   Minister   Prachanda said speaking at the Nepal-China  Business  Summit  jointly  organ-ised  by  the  China  Council  for  the  Pro-motion of  International Trade (CCPIT) and  Federation  of   Nepalese  Chambers  of  Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) on Sunday in Beijing of  China.

He  urged  the  Chinese  investors  to  grab  the  opportunities  that  Nepal  is  offering  in  various  areas  of   business  and  investment,  and  the  country  has  the  lowest  corporate  tax  rate  in  the  region.

 According  to  PM  Prachanda,  the  issue    of     enhancing    connectivity    between  Nepal  and  China  has  been  discussed  with  President  of   China,  Xi Jinping, in order to facilitate more economic   and   business   exchanges   between the two countries. "Nepal  is  an  attractive  destination  for FDI. It has the proximity to two of  the  world’s  largest  growing  markets. 

There is a huge potential of  attracting Chinese investment in infrastructure, energy, agriculture, tourism, ICT and other  service  areas,”  said  the  Prime  Minister.He said that Nepal counted on Chi-nese investment to fill our technolog-ical  and  strategic  gap. 

“We  need  to enhance  our  economic  engagement  with  the  neighbouring  countries  and  increase synergy and cooperation,” he stressed. According to PM Prachanda, Nepal wants  to  increase  its  export  to  China  and  for  it  there  is  a  need  to  improve  physical  infrastructure,  and  reduce  technical  barriers  of   exporting  agri-cultural products to China."Our  relations  have  flourished  on  the  foundation  of   mutual  benefits,  securing    mutual    interests.   

Since China is the largest source for FDI and second  largest  trade  partner,  Nepal  hopes  for  more  cooperation  in  this  regard,” he stated. This is PM’s third visit as the prime minister and fifth as a leader of  Nepal.

 

Opening   border   in   Tinker   and   Mugu

Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Min-ister  of   China’s  Ministry  of   Com-merce,  Li  Fei,  said  that  China  is  for  greater  economic  cooperation  with  Nepal.

"We want to promote high quality of  industrial  development  in  Nepal  and  support in agriculture and tourism sec-tor  development,”  he  said,  adding  that  Chinese  airlines  are  operating  more  flights  to  Nepal  which  will  support  in  the development of  tourism in Nepal. Li also said that he encourages Chi-nese  businesses  to  invest  in  textile,  food  processing  and  other  sectors  of   business  in  Nepal. 

He  also  informed  that  China  is  supporting  in  increas-ing the traffic capacity of  the Araniko Highway,    upgrading    Rasuwagadhi    Highway  and  expediting  the  feasibil-ity  study  of   China-Nepal  cross-border  railway.

According  to  Li,  China  will  work  with  Nepal  to  open  traditional  border  sites in Tinker in Darchula, and Mugu. He also stated that the northern neigh-bour of  Nepal is interested in promoting and supporting sustainable development in  Nepal. 

“We  will  organise  training  courses  on  trade  and  related  areas  for  Nepali entrepreneurs,” he said.

 

Nepal   needs   Chinese   investment,   tourists

Chandra  Prasad  Dhakal,  President  of   the  FNCCI,  said  that  the  summit  brought together business leaders from both countries to explore opportunities for  investment,  trade,  and  technology  transfer. 

He  expressed  his  confidence  that it will lead to clear outcomes that will benefit both Nepal and China.He stated that Nepal offers potential for  global  exports  as  it  has  duty-free  access  to  Nepali  products  in  China,  India, the United States, the European Union,  Canada,  Australia  and  other  developed  countries. 

This  opens  up  opportunities  for  investment  and  pro-duction  in  Nepal  and  export  to  global  markets.Stating that Nepal is committed to fur-ther  opening  up  to  foreign  investment,  technology transfer, public-private part-nership,   and   investment-related   poli-cies  to  attract  both  global  and  regional  FDIs,  Dhakal  informed  that  the  FNCCI  has established an FDI help desk to pro-vide  one-window  facilitation  support  to  foreign  investors. 

“We  plan  to  expand  this service to further support potential investors  and  existing  companies,”  he  said. He stated that Nepal is ready to wel-come more Chinese tourists and invest-ment  from  the  northern  neighbour  in  energy,  ICT  and  ICT-enabled  services,  mines  and  minerals,  and  agricultural  projects.

He said that the private sector in Nepal is looking forward to Chinese government  investment  including  the  newly built airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara  as  the  preferred  destinations  for Chinese tourists.

Dhakal  said  that  Nepali  and  Chi-nese  traders  have  been  facing  trou-bles  in  bilateral  trade  as  there  is  no  Chinese  bank  operating  in  Nepal,  and  urged China to open one or establish a joint-venture with a Nepali bank. According   to   him,   trade   barriers   between the two neighbours should be removed,  and  the  Trade  Facilitation  Agreement   should   be   implemented   fully  to  increase  mutual  benefits  from  bilateral trade.

 

Support in economic diversification

Zhang  Shaogang,  Vice-President  of   CCPIT, said that China and Nepali busi-ness  communities  have  strengthened  their relations and cooperation in vari-ous business sectors including technol-ogy, infrastructure and energy. Zhang  also  stated  that  China  wants  to  contribute  in  the  economic  diversi-fication and development in Nepal, and showed  his  interest  in  creating  more  business   platforms   and   organising   exchange programmes.

"We need to deepen pragmatic coop-eration  in  industrial  development  and  supply  chain  development.  China  is  organising the Supply Chain Expo after a  couple  of   months,  we  want  Nepal  to  participate in the expo,” he said. Need  for  trans-Himalayan  connec-tivity Manoj  Poudel,  Chairman  of   Foreign  Investment   and   International   Affairs   Committee at the FNCCI, said that Nepal has witnessed a tremendous progress in ICT  business  in  the  past  few  years. 

He  also said that public-private-partnership could be one of  the areas where Chinese and  Nepali  businesses  come  together  in  developing  large  infrastructure  and  industrial bases.

He   maintained   that   establishing   trans-Himalayan  connectivity  would  propel   an   unprecedented   business,   investment and tourism growth in both the countries.  According  to  the  FNCCI,  the  busi-ness   summit   is   organised   with   the   aim  of   promoting  bilateral  trade  and  attract  Chinese  investment  to  Nepal. 

About  120  representatives  of   various  Chinese companies and about 50 Nepali businesspersons   participated   in   the   summit.  Likewise,  ministers  and  high  government officials of  visiting Nepali delegation  and  Chinese  government  also participated in the event. China   is   Nepal’s   second   largest   trade  partner.  About  16  per  cent  of   the total imports of  Nepal comes from China. 

However,  with  the  advent  of   COVID-19  and  tightened  of   borders,  exports to China have been disturbed which have begun to resume recently. The   visit   of    PM   Prachanda   also   aims  to  operating  the  border  points  smoothly and in full strength so that it would further facilitate the bilateral trade.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 25 September 2023.