KATHMANDU, Nov 9: The 23rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) has reelected Saurya SJB Rana as its president for the next term. 

The AGM of the bilateral body of businessperson and industrialists of Nepal and India unanimously elected a 10-member body under the leadership of Rana for the two-year term. 

Abhimanyu Poddar of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd, Anand Kumar Agrawal Bagaria of Nimbus Holdings Pvt Ltd, Anukool Bhatnagar of Nepal SBI Bank Ltd, Gyanendra Lal Pradhan of Hydro Solutions Pvt Ltd, Hem Raj Dhakal of IME Automotives Pvt Ltd, R B Rauniyar of Interstate Multi-modal Transport Co Pvt Ltd, Shashi Kant Agrawal of Reliance Spinning Mills Ltd, Shreejana Rana of Hotel Del' Annapurna Pvt Ltd and Suhrid Jyoti of Bhajuratna Engineering and Sales Ltd have been elected executive members of the chamber. 
The first board meeting of NICCI will choose two vice presidents, a general secretary and a treasurer, according to a statement issued by NICCI. 

Addressing the AGM, newly elected president Rana stressed the need to bring more Indian foreign direct investment in Nepal for narrowing down widening trade deficit as well as urge India to allow third country origin goods via India to be imported to Nepal. 
"Allowing Nepal to import third country goods from India will make imports cheaper as well as easier because most of multinational companies of third country have their manufacturing units in India," Rana said in the AGM, according to the statement.

Rana also said that chamber was looking for ways to simplify export of Nepali agro products and the whole gamut of testing procedures. He also said efforts will be made to allow Nepalis working in India to remit their earning to Nepal through a formal channel.

Speaking at the program, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri said that Nepal can benefit from the game changer projects which are under construction like cross-border petroleum pipeline, hydropower projects, including Arun III, and also the integrated check posts along Nepal-India border. Puri is also a patron of NICCI. 

Likewise, President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Bhawani Rana, said that a plan of setting up Nepal India Trade Center for resolving issues of the bilateral trade was underway.

 
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