Kathmandu, April 12

The new President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Bhawani Rana has said that she will focus on controlling brain drain, basically of Nepali youths, during her three-year presidential tenure.

Assuming office as the first woman president of FNCCI in the organisation’s five-decade-long history today, Rana said that Nepal should take effective measures to control the brain drain by creating job opportunities within the country.

“Brain drain is a major problem of Nepal today and is directly related to the country’s economy. As skilled youths are assets of the country, the government and the private sector should together develop ways to keep them in the country.”

Rana also spoke of her plans to launch different skill development programmes and set up technical schools in each proposed province during her tenure. “I am planning to form an expert committee within FNCCI, which will be responsible to suggest FNCCI on different plans, programmes and activities,” she added.

The newly-elected FNCCI president also emphasised on giving continuity to the programmes and agenda that were launched by Immediate Past President Pashupati Murarka. “Nepal has high trade potential with India. I shall collaborate with the government to address the various trade hurdles that Nepali businesspeople face when conducting trade with the southern neighbour and other countries,” she said.

Citing that Nepal has to develop sound infrastructure for economic growth, Rana emphasised on the need to develop different infrastructure-related projects under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Meanwhile, Rana also said that she has a plan to bring together all political parties and other stakeholders of the development sector to work together to pass a stricter motion on economic development from the Parliament.

She also spoke about her plans to make land acquisition easier for investment, modernise industrial production, develop smart cities in each province together with the government, develop mass transportation system under PPP model, enhance tourism sector, encourage government to develop annual calendar of development projects, promote women entrepreneurship, form a research and development centre in FNCCI and make FNCCI secretariat more effective and strong.

Rana became the FNCCI president after the organisation’s statute was amended last year with a provision to directly elect the incumbent senior vice-president of FNCCI to the top post of the organisation.

She also vowed to promote team work in FNCCI and appealed to all elected FNCCI executive members to support her in achieving FNCCI’s goal of higher economic growth in Nepal.