Govt ready to facilitate foreign investors: PM

KATHMANDU, Aug 4: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Tuesday called upon foreign investors to inject more capital in Nepal´s economy and expressed commitment to leave no stone unturned to facilitate the process of bringing in more foreign investments into the country. [break]

"To bring in more foreign investment into the country, the government is already making more investment on infrastructure development, dealing with the problem of power shortage and improving law and order situation in the country," the PM told the participants of International Conference on Enhancing Resource Effectiveness in the Workplace, jointly organized by Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and International Journal of Industrial Engineering in Kathmandu. "If there is any need I am willing to do more to facilitate the process."

His comments come at a time when foreign direct investment commitments plunged by 36.3 percent in the last fiscal year.

ICEREW kicks off

The two-day International Conference on Enhancing Resource Effectiveness in the Workplace (ICEREW) commenced in Kathmandu on Tuesday. The event -- jointly organized by Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and International Journal of Industrial Engineering -- is expected to devise necessary procedures, techniques and models, which will help industries to improve their competitiveness, increase efficiency of finite and non-renewable resources and maximize output. Suraj Vaidya, senior vice president of FNCCI expressed hope the conference would impart knowledge on "taking the best advantage of what we have."

"We have already allocated necessary funds to build Hetauda-Kathmandu fast track (that links the southern plains with the country´s capital) and other infrastructure development projects in a bid to attract more foreign investments here,” the PM said, while delivering a key-note speech at the conference. Representatives from the US, Japan, Mexico, South, Korea and Israel among others are participating in the conference.

He also said the government had set a target of generating 25,000 MW of electricity within next 20 years by investing more on hydropower projects and laid emphasis on generation of bio-fuel to address the problem of power shortage.

“I have also solicited active involvement of various government bodies and political parties to strengthen the country´s law and order situation," he said, and called upon foreign investors "to support the government´s initiative."

PM Nepal also said the government was making efforts to drive the national development initiative through economic development and considerable improvement in quality of life. "For this the government is keen on promoting three pillars of economy: cooperatives, the public domain and the private sector," the PM said.