“We found all political parties serious about attracting foreign investment for economic development. We are very much encouraged to hear their united voice on making Nepal a prosperous nation and positive commitments toward protecting foreign investment,” Aniruddha Lahiri, vice president of American Chamber of Commerce in India (ACCI), told the press on Tuesday.[break]
Lahiri said business opportunities should be exploited to boost foreign investment so as to strengthen trade capacity of Nepal where labor issues and weak infrastructure are still big challenges,” he said, adding that Nepal can be an investment destination given the huge business potential that the country has.
The 12-member business mission led by Lahiri met Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, senior ministers, top leaders of major political parties, including UCPN (Maoist), and high ranking government officials on Tuesday.
Lahiri said they would convey their impression about Nepal as a potential investment destination to other US investors in India and the US.
ACCI is an umbrella organization of over 500 US investors based in India.
The mission has identified hydropower, health, information technology, trade, aviation, infrastructure and agriculture as the major sectors for investment in Nepal.
Lahiri said the mission also requested the government to provide it a list of prioritized sectors for foreign investment.
“The mission is just the beginning. It will open the door for more investment in Nepal and more business delegations,” Lahiri said, adding, “We will see more visits by interested investors in the coming days to further explore investment opportunities.”
Commenting on obstruction faced by GMR -- the developer of Upper Karnali Hydropower Project, Lahiri said some sporadic cases do not portray reflect Nepal´s true investment climate. “The incident shouldn´t have happened. It would be wrong to generalize foreign investment situation in Nepal just by this event,” he added.
US ambassador to Nepal Scott H DeLisi also said the GMR case does not reflect the investment environment in Nepal. “The government has decided to deploy security personnel to provide security to hydropower projects, which is an important step in establishing investment-friendly environment in the country,” he added.
“Nepal is ideal destination for investment. We haven´t seen any threat to investment security here.”
DeLisi also said the US Embassy was working with the Energy Ministry of Nepal for hydropower development in Nepal, besides exploring ways to boost investment in tourism, industries, trade and other sectors.
Lahiri also said such opportunities should be tapped by using the best business model that can be adjusted even in adverse business climate. Referring to frequent bandas by politically motivated trade unions in industries, Lahiri said political leaders have assured the delegation that there will be no industrial obstructions by labor unions in the coming days.
“Assurance alone is not enough, we want them to implement their commitments,” said Lahiri. He further said the US investment would be primarily focused on tapping the domestic market before gradually penetrating into the markets in India and China as well as the global market.
“We will expand the market for our products to neighboring India and China as well as other global market after fulfilling the demands here where we can set up manufacturing units.”
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