Minister Yadav urges private sector to cooperate with the government

Kathmandu, Jan. 31:

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav on Thursday urged the business community to change its rhetoric and create an environment to collaborate and cooperate with the government in creating prosper society.

"You always say that the government has only created obstacles or has not tried to remove business obstacles but how can business prosper without government support?" he asked the businessmen at an interaction organised by the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nepal on the occasion of its 14^th Annual General Assembly.

He asked the private sector not to give an opportunity to the government to use its punitive baton on the businessmen. He questioned them why they do not punish their members who involve in illegal business practices and produce substandard goods or chat the consumers.

Minister Yadav also said that when the producers did not ask the consumers while increasing the price of their products, the government also need not to take an opinion of the business community while hiking the tax rates.

However, he said that the governments in the past were revenue-oriented but there have been changes recently and the private sector is considered as a reliable partner in development.

 "Let's promote ethical business and not practice lubricating the government agencies to get unfair works done. I am ready to work with you," he said.

Vice-Chairperson of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Umesh Lal Shrestha said that the businesses were facing problems due to interpretative laws as the legal provisions could be interpreted according to the interest of the responsible government agency or officer.

The government need to think why the industrial sector's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product is going down, he said.

Director General of Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology Bishwo Babu Pudasaini said that the quality compliance of the Nepali cement industries was satisfactory.

He said that the government needed to make a huge investment in enhancing the capacity of the quality control agencies since the same agency that used to manage about a couple of industries a couple of decades ago has the responsibility of more than 100 industries.

President of CMAN Engineer Dhruba Thapa said that the government needed to facilitate the industrialists in the issues like Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), export and mining. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 1 February 2019.