Secretary of MoI Uma Kant Jha said the ministry is soon bringing the proposal to the Cabinet for endorsement to ensure better preparations and effective implementation of the investment years.[break]
The government has announced investment years in the general budget in an effort to boost foreign direct investment through investment incentives at a time when the real sector is witnessing a slow growth.
"Making Nepal Investment Years a success is not the responsibility of MoI alone, we need proper coordination among different government agencies including ministries and stakeholders. So, we propose the Prime Minister to lead the preparations and implementation of the campaign years," said Jha.
He said the process to identify 50 potential sectors for investment in Nepal is going on in consultation with major stakeholders including Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI).
"We have identified six sectors including hydropower, tourism, agriculture, among others, at the ministry level. We will soon identify and come up with all 50 sectors that have potentials for foreign investments," said Jha. MoI has recently constituted a working group led by the chief of Industrial Promotion Division at MoI to speed up and coordinate preparations and implementation of the proposed Nepal Investment Years.
The panel has senior officials from Finance Ministry, Energy Ministry, Agriculture Ministry. Tourism Minister Anil Thakur, coordinator of the group, said USAID is assisting the campaign by providing a US consultant to formulate programs and strategies for the Investment Years, which are mainly focused on creating environment for more foreign direct investment in Nepal.
"We are in the process of holding meetings of different stakeholders for inputs to formulate plans, programs and strategies for the Investment Years before we hire a US consultant from January 4 with the support from USAID," said Thakur.
The government has already initiated to draft and amend around half a dozen laws and policies to facilitate foreign investment in Nepal, proposing incentives for investors ahead of Nepal Investment Years - a two-year campaign that starts in 2012.
Convening the Nepal Investment Forum - a conference of foreign investors from different countries - to discuss the potential areas of investments in Nepal is also on cards during the upcoming investment years.
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