HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Govt for more liberalpolicy to boost FDIs: PM
‘Investment trend encouraging’

KATHMANDU, Mar. 25: Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has said that the government is considering to make Nepal’s foreign investment policies still more liberal, transparent and investment friendly to attract significant investment in the country.

Prime Minister Chand launching a book entitled ‘ An Investment Guide to Nepal’ prepared and published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) here today said “The trend of investment inflow is encouraging.”

“It is my belief that multilateral agencies like unctad and ICC can play a significant role to encourage countries like Nepal in attracting more foreign investments,” he said.

He said Nepal looks direct foreign investment as means to promote quality products, international marketing, modern management skills and better technologies.

“His Majesty’s Government has made significant efforts to attract foreign investment. I hope this guide will help foreign investors understand the structure and potentials of the Nepalese economy and provide information on opportunities for investment,” he said.

Stating that Nepal has adopted liberal and open economic policies since 1992 he said adding that important measures like de-licensing industrial investment, autonomy in pricing of industrial products, trade liberalisation, tax reform, tariff rationalisation, financial sector reform and de-bureaucratisation are some of the major thrusts of present economic policy.‘’Industrial policy and investment and one window policy announced in 1992 can be taken as a paradigm shift from closed and restricted to free and open market industrial regime,” he said.Both these policies are considered as liberal and investment friendly aiming at emphasising the enhancement of industrial production and productivity and promoting employment generating industries under open and liberal economic environment, he added.

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Maheshlal Pradhan said we could not attract much foreign investment into Nepal due to national and international events that had occurred during the last couple of years.“We must attract foreign investment for speedy development of industrial sector,” he said.

Resident Representative of the UNDP Dr. Henning Karcher said foreign investment projects have provided employment to almost 87,000 persons in the country and there has been an 11-fold increase in capital investment in the country due to FDI since 1990.

The flow of investment supported by trade also helps developing countries to integrate themselves into the world economy, he said. “Foreign investment is important in the context of Nepal’s accession to the WTO. It has been observed that countries that attract FDI enjoy a strengthened position at the negotiating table since many of their supporters and lobbyists are from the developed world,’’ he said.
“Institutions should be strengthened so as to ensure transparency, accountability and predictability. Bureaucratic hurdles should be reduced. The rule of law should be enforced. Incentives like tax holidays, and other financial incentives, may not mean much in institutional set-ups are considered weak,” Karcher added.

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