Kathmandu, February 15:

Nepali businessmen are set to take part in the Second SAARC Business Leaders Conclave scheduled for February 17-18 in Mumbai, India.

A six-member delegation of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) led by its president Chandi Raj Dhakal, will be participating in the conclave jointly organised by SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Pranab Mukherjee, Indian external affairs minister, is scheduled to inaugurate the meeting.

The first session of the conclave will feature a roundtable on ‘Regional Trade, Investment and Employment Generation: Creating an Enabling Policy Environment in South Asia’, in which finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat will present Nepal’s perspective. Commerce ministers of the other SAARC member countries are also scheduled to deliver their speeches on the occasion, states a press release issued by FNCCI here today.

During the second session, business leaders of the region will discuss on capacity enhancement of SAARC region with special focus on infrastructure development. Other areas of the discussion will focus on strengthening trade and economic relations among the member countries as well as public-private sector cooperation on improvement of people’s living standard.

Power trading and development of transmission line, road and expansion of regional highways, trade, investment, employment generation, building competitiveness, human resource development and SAARC Economic Union (SEU) are among other topics for the discussions.