Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, March 19:

GTZ, German Technical Cooperation, has launched a discussion series on economic promotion. The first ever discussion with a theme ‘how can the finance sector stimulate private sector investment and what are the preconditions in 2005’ was held yesterday.

Government officials, businessmen, bankers and development professionals were participants in the event. Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada, member of National Planning Commission, Dr Sultan Hafeez Rahman, country director of Asian Development Bank, Binod Bahadur Shrestha, president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Basudev Ram Joshi, president of Nepal Banker’s Association were the resource persons of the programme.

The programme coincided with formal opening of a joint office of the GTZ supported projects— Private Sector Promotion Project and Rural Finance Nepal.

Dr Khatiwada and Ulf Wernicke, director of GTZ-Nepal jointly inaugurated the new offices by lighting lamps. Armin Hofmann, project coordinator said that the new combined operating structure would create synergies to support local economic development and employment creation. Jalan Kumar Sharma, general manager of Sana Kisan Bank and Babu Ram Ranabhat, executive director of Industrial Enterprise Development Institute also expressed their views on the occasion.