Addressing a lecturer series organized by Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) in Kathmandu, Xiaobo Zhang, distinguished Professor of Economics at Peking University and Senior Fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), said Nepal can become a popular tourist destination for rising number of middle class in China and India."Improvement in basic infrastructure like roads and electricity is a key for expanding tourism as well as for attracting foreign investment," he said, delivering a lecture on 'China's Impressive Economic Rise: Lesson for Nepal in its Development Efforts and Poverty Reduction'.
The lecture was a part of IIDS Distinguished Speaker series and was attended by about 100 guests, including officials from the Chinese Embassy and SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu.
Professor Zhang also urged Nepal to learn from Chinese experience.
Explaining the paths and policies pursued by China in its development efforts, he said: "Initially, China's economy was centrally planned but crises, including a famine, and hardships forced its leaders and policy makers to change course and gradually move toward market based economy." He also said crises and problems were also opportunities. Over the past decades, China has implemented a broad spectrum of economic reforms that have transformed China's economy and established it as an economic powerhouse, he said. "These included setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and creating incentives for local areas and politicians," he added.
Professor Zhang also emphasized that the reforms in China were gradual, based on results of experiments, and local -- as opposed to prescribed by outsiders.
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