Investment Summit concludes, Investors apply for 17 projects

Kathmandu, Mar. 30

Nepal Investment Summit 2019 concluded Saturday with applications for 17 projects in five different sectors – transport, energy, agriculture, education and health and logistics infrastructure.

The government has set April 20 as deadline for investors to apply for their choice of projects among the 77 ventures showcased at the mega convergence.

Coordinator of the event and Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada said that the interest shown by the investors within the summit period was very encouraging.

Likewise, 16 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) were signed among various domestic and foreign investors, multilateral donors, State governments and the Office of the Investment Board.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the ministers held about 36 bilateral meetings with the investors and delegates from different agencies, and there were also more than 39 business-to-government meetings and more than 30 business-to-business meetings.  

The summit also featured a number of side-line events on business climate, features of venture capital in Nepal, women in entrepreneurship and a roundtable meeting on 'making investment happen in Nepal'.

"These meetings were extremely useful to carry forward our investment agenda, and the thematic and plenary sessions were highly effective in showcasing Nepal as an attractive investment destination," said FM Dr. Khatiwada.

According to him, the country has been able to demonstrate national unity for the journey of economic prosperity irrespective of different party ideologies to begin a journey towards prosperity hand-in hand with private sector.

While we recognise the private sector as the engine for growth, this summit is an indication of our common bond to proceed together towards this, he said.

Dr. Khatiwada said that the government would make sure that the investors get the best sectors for investment, the best people to collaborate with, the best destination to expand business and the best rate of returns on investment.

"The government would like to provide you with best and professional facilitation to do business in Nepal. We have created and further strengthened the Investment Board of Nepal to provide such facilities at a single stop," stated the minister. "We have created a level playing field for all investors, and we would like to see a healthy competition among them," he added.

He also reiterated that the government wanted to partner with private sector in order to meet the goal of rapid development and economic prosperity.

"The summit has come to a successful end with overwhelming participation of more than 1200 persons,  including above 700 foreign delegates from 40 countries representing more than 300 companies," said Maha Prasad Adhikari, Chief Executive Office of the Investment Board.

"Potential investors were briefed about domestic as well as cross-border and global markets for Nepali products and services. Similarly, the interested investors have been made aware of incentives and policy reforms that Nepal has undertaken to create conducive investment environment for foreign investment," he said.

National and international private sector representatives said that they found the event as an excellent opportunity to complement each other in their business ventures.

President and CEO of Skypower, a Canadian firm that is interested to invest in 600 megawatt solar project in Nepal, said that he found the country ready for the growth with the private sector and FDI friendly policies.

Chairman of Chaudhary Group Binod Chaudhary urged the government to put sincere efforts to implement the policy reforms, improve the investment climate and to pursue the commitments made by the foreign investors.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 March 2019.