Kathmandu, March 24

Former industry minister Nabindra Raj Joshi, under whose leadership the country had hosted Nepal Investment Summit in 2017, has said the government seems to be unclear on the rationality behind hosting a similar summit which is being held on Friday and Saturday.

Citing that the government should have first analysed why Nepal could not properly capitalise on the $14 billion worth of foreign investment pledges that the country received during the previous summit, the Nepali Congress leader said that the government might not be able to showcase a favourable investment environment in the country against the backdrop of rising security concerns in the business sector.

“The business community at present is insecure as different instances of insecurity have been witnessed in the recent months. Similarly, the government also has failed to follow up on why investors did not come to invest in the country despite the huge investment pledge in the previous investment summit,” said Joshi, adding that had the government hosted the investment summit after analysing these two factors, the event would be more successful.

Stating that foreign investment pledge in the country has come down by almost 70 per cent in the first eight months of this fiscal year compared to the same period in the previous year, he said such facts would rather discourage potential investors to bring in investment in the country.

Meanwhile, Joshi said that the government should be liberal towards the business community and investors in a bid to attract both domestic and foreign investments.

Similarly, he said that the government should also ensure that corruption issues are addressed in a timely manner. He also stated that the one-window policy and relevant laws need to be implemented effectively, and that administrative works for investors need to be simplified in a bid to promote Nepal as an emerging destination for investment.