It recently forwarded a proposal to this effect to the cabinet, after being validated by all concerned ministries and private sector associations. [break]
“We hope NBF can play an instrumental role to identify constraints and barriers to business and investment, foster commitment and mobilize concerned government agencies to solve the problems promptly,” said Dhundi Raj Pokharel, joint secretary at MoI.
NBF was mooted under the aegis of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank group. It is a replica of a model practiced in recent years in various low income countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, where it successfully did away with policy and environment related gaps that impeded business growth.
Most importantly, officials believe the forum being an interacting platform between the private sector, government, civil society and donors will create pressure for concerned stakeholders, mainly political leadership, to act upon problems related to labor, energy crisis and insecurity.
Presently, labor problems, energy crisis and insecurity are being tagged as the three major constraints to investment and doing business in Nepal. Despite suggesting various measures to deal with them, MoI has not been able to garner strong commitment from other concerned ministries to address these constraints.
“We want this situation to end. That is why we have proposed that NBF should be chaired by the prime minister,” said a source.
The NBF statute pushed by the MoI envisages multi-tier bodies, including general assembly headed by the prime minister, steering committee led by the industry minister, private sector development committee headed by the Industry Secretary and sectoral working groups jointly led by concerned government officials and private sector representative. It also provisions establishment of a separate secretariat, which will be manned by experts and supporting staffs.
“NBF will include all concerned ministries, private sector organizations, donor agencies and experts. Hence, its structure and size appears huge,” said the source.
But concerned officials argued that the success of NBF lies in inclusion of all stakeholders and ministries, stimulating dialogue among them and making them responsive and accountable.
“Otherwise, we fear it will fail just as many other public-private initiatives have failed,” the source added.
As for its function, NBF will work for consistent enforcement of law, removal of barriers that investors face in establishing enterprises and closing them down and provide feedback on policies and regulations that affect private sector.
It will also field various needs of the industrial sector like taxes and fees cut, relaxing interest rates and ceiling, simplifying rules, improving patent and industrial design protection and predictable environment for foreign direct investment.
The MoI says the costs of operating NBF will be shouldered jointly by the government, private sector and donors, in particular IFC.
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