Nepal Investment Summit today

Kathmandu, Mar. 28:

The Nepal Investment Summit 2019 will be inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Friday in the capital.

To tell the world that Nepal is the best investment destinations and promote its investment-friendly policies in various sectors with an aim of attracting investment in large infrastructure and business projects, the Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) is organising the summit with the support from the concerned ministries and private sector.

The IBN will showcase 77 projects, ranging from Rs 640 million to Rs. 350 billion, of seven different sectors for investment. The government has given priority to physical infrastructure, energy, tourism, agriculture, information technology, industry, health and education sectors. The Private sector is proposing 27 of the projects at the summit

More than 600 investors from 40 countries will attend the mega-event that aims at obtaining the investment commitment of about Rs. 3 trillion, an amount equal to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The highest number of delegates, 265 investors and other representatives, will come from China.

The country desperately needs massive investment in infrastructure projects in order to meet the high growth trajectory needed to be a middle-income nation by 2030. It needs about Rs. 900 billion infrastructure investment everywhere while its annual infrastructure budget is below Rs. 400 billion.

Similarly, the country will welcome 120 business delegates from India, 21 from Japan, 19 from Myanmar, 17 from South Korea, 13 from Omann, 12 each from United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, 10 each from Canada, Sri Lanka and the United States of America, nine each from Germany and the United Kingdom and 79 from other countries.

Likewise, high-level government officials, representatives of Kathmandu-based diplomatic missions, development partners, Nepali private sector and Non-Resident Nepalis will participate in the two-day conference.

According to IBN Chief Executive Officer Maha Prasad Adhikari, this summit would be different from those held in the past as it will try to not only offer the projects but also offer insights in the country’s plans, initiatives for long-term development and policy reforms made to enhance the doing business environment.

With an aim of strengthening investment climate and attract more foreign and domestic investment, the government has enacted Public Private Partnership and Investment Act, Foreign Investment and Transfer of Technology Act, Labour Act, Company Act, Industrial Enterprise Act, Special Economic Zone Act and amended many other laws related to business, infrastructure development, Environment Impact Assessment and business registration.

The IBN has said that it had received many positive responses from the foreign investors.

Meanwhile, the World Bank Group has said that its investment risk insurance arm – Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) was actively seeking opportunities to support foreign private sector investment into Nepal.

The WB currently supports 25 active projects in the country with 2.6 billion US$.

“Nepal has been a rising star in South Asia with foreign direct investment flows reaching a record high in 2017, and likely to remain an important investment destination in the region. This confirms Nepal’s efforts to improve its investment climate and become a competitive investment destination for multinational companies that want to have an impact,” said Keiko Honda, Executive Vice-President and CEO of MIGA.

Along with Honda, Vice-President of WB South Asia Hartwig Schafer and VP of International Finance Corporation Hans Peter Lankesh will attend the summit and will discuss bank’s support for Npeal with PM Oli and Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada.

Likewise, Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations of Myanmar U Thaung  Tun, Vice President of Asian Development Bank  Shixin Chen, Vice-president of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Dong Lee and high level representatives of the world renowned companies are attending the summit. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 March 2019.