"Legal and administrative reform must for attracting FDIs"

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"Legal and administrative reform must for attracting FDIs"

March 28: Stakeholders and policy makers have stressed on the need of legal and administrative reform to facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nepal.

In a programme organised by the Embassy of India in Nepal titled 'The Symposium on FDI in Nepal: Sharing Experiences' in the capital on March 27, the participants highlighted the need of support in policy and administrative levels in order to attract FDI in the country.

Speaking at the event, Maha Prasad Adhikari, CEO of Investment Board Nepal (IBN), mentioned about the success of the Investment Summit- 2017 held in Kathmandu on March 2- 3.

"It is necessary to address the policy level, legal and procedural challenges in the system as discussed in the summit in order to attract FDIs," Adhikari shared.  He further noted that it is a challenging task to materialize investments as one time investment only is not enough for many mega projects such as metro train and international airports. "Therefore, there should be long term policies for attracting big investments in the country," he said.

In the programme, Industry Secretary Shankar Prasad Koirala said that the government started reforming the policies prior to the summit with an aim to bring investments in the country.

"Also, the facility of online registration which has been provided by the Department of Industry and the Office of the Company Registrar has also eased the procedures," Koirala shared. He further said that the Ministry has been preparing to bring one stop service center so that all the registration works can be done at one place.

"Foreign investment inflow would be eased if the government implements one-window policy effectively," said Abhimanyu Poddar, Managing Director of Surya Nepal.   He further expressed the view that there are hassles now for the entrepreneurs and investors to submit the same proposals to different departments, which is quite unnecessary.

Similarly, S.C Agrawal, CEO of Arun III Hydropower Project shared that acquisition of land is the main challenge for completing projects in Nepal.

"The roads are not properly constructed and we also have to spend huge amounts in the construction of the roads.  Besides that, we also face difficulties in terms of security," Agrawal said.

Likewise, Anukool Bhatnagar, CEO of Nepal SBI Bank said that many of the possible investments have moved to other countries due to delays in response from the government.  "Proper policies and active government work will highly increase the possibility of FDIs in Nepal," said Bhatnagar.

Commerce Secretary Naindra Prasad Upadhyay was of the view that it is possible to attract FDIs through international trade facilitation.  "As the country is not strong in terms of export, the government is ready to provide grants for the promotion of export," he further said.

 

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