Kathmandu, November 21:

At a time when the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) is declining massively, government is planning to establish an Investment Board to mobilise both foreign as well as domestic investments. Madhukar SJB Rana, finance minister, speaking at a seminar on ‘Fresh initiatives for industrial promotion in Nepal and review of the existing delivery mechanisms’, organised by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), here today, said that the government is setting up the board in consultation of concerned stakeholders including private sector, donors

and consultant. “We have felt the need of an autonomous investment board,” he said without elaborating. Explaining the government’s seriousness over the declining trend of FDI, Rana assured that corrective measures would be taken as per the recommendations.

Binod Kumar Chaudhary, president of CNI, pointed out the need of critical review of policy measures and develop a clear-cut way out to lead towards prosperity. “We need fresh initiatives to tap opportunities, flow of FDI and new trading arrangements” he added. He also stressed on need to develop positive attitude to kick-start industrial activities with fresh and positive mindset. “If we could have introduced better policies creating conducive environment for investment and trading, Nepal’s industrialisation process would not have lagged behind.”

Bijaya Nath Bhattarai, governor of NRB, urged the entrepreneurs and industrialists to be accountable and transparent.

Making a presentation on CNI’s perspective, Jagadish Prasad Agrawal, convenor of the committee on industry, urged to focus on labour and knowledge, and agro-biodiversity resource based sectors to kick-start industrialisation. “There is an urgent need to identify comparative advantages in strategies by removing regulatory bottlenecks.”