Nepalese Prime Minister invites Indian companies for bilateral ties

 New Delhi, Aug 24: Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said there exists a strong convergence of views among Nepal’s major political parties that the country is poised to stand at a critical economic juncture. At a business meeting organised by ASSOCHAM jointly with CII and FICCI last night, Mr Deuba said, “We are actively pursuing new processes and institutions to attract large scale investment. The 900 megawatt Arun-3 and the 900 megawatt Upper Karnali hydropower projects both involve Indian capital are being facilitated by the investment Board of Nepal. Early this year, we hosted the Investment summit where we attracted a pledge of 14 billion, which is almost half the size of our GDP.” Mr Deuba said, “We offer flexible rules and incentives on return on capital and profit. As a least developed country, we enjoy duty-free across to the European market and have recently received preferential market entry into the United States for over 60 products.” “Nepal is an attractive platform for export-oriented investment in products that have a high-value-to-weight ratio. Our labour force is loyal, disciplined and affordable. And in an era of climate change, we aim to meet all our energy needs through clean sources. Nepal’s hydropower, for example, can spur high-energy high-tech sectors, and displace dirty sources of fuel across South Asia,” he said. He said, “We are restarting the new generation of economic reforms. In my first term as Prime Minister over twenty year ago I introduced the Value-Added-Tax, similar to the GST launched recently in India. While reforms of that scale have not taken root since, this will now change. Just in the past few months, we have enacted laws and policies on foreign investment, public-private partnership, special economic zones, industrial enterprise, labour, mining, banking and intellectual property.” “There exists a strong convergence of views among Nepal’s major political parties that the country is poised to stand at a critical economic juncture. We cannot lose sight of this window of opportunity. Nepal is truly open for business” Mr Deuba added. “With the rise of India and China as global economic powers, all major growth poles in Asia are within a few hours of flying distance from Kathmandu. Nepal can be the new melting pot for tourists, traders and investors, said Mr Deuba. He said intense physical connectivity through raods, rail and air is key to lowering business costs and deepening people-to-people ties. Mr Nirvana Chaudhary, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Nepal Chapter said Indian joint ventures in Nepal constitute about one third of total joint ventures in Nepal. These joint ventures are in many sectors including, tourism, infrastructure, consumer durables and non-durables and export oriented industries. There are great opportunities in the hydropower sector. There is a potential of commercially developing about 43,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity in Nepal, which is yet to be explored fully. There are many companies in India who are keen to invest in Nepal with partnerships with local entities specially for upgrading the much needed airport in Kathmandu or Railway and other infrastructure development which is the key priority mentioned in Nepal’s recent budget as well. Nepal has embarked on the policy of putting the economic agenda in the forefront of development. It is in this context Nepal has recently come up with new Industrial Enterprise Act, Special Economic Zone Act, Company Act, Bank and Financial Institution Act, Labor Act, Social Security Act and various investment friendly policies and regulations. This we feel has created an enabling environment for investment in Nepal and doing business. UNI