The government has said that preparations are over for the third Nepal Investment Summit 2024 that opens in Kathmandu on Sunday.
More than 1,700 investors from 55 countries will be taking part in the two-day summit, said Pradyumna Prasad Upadhyay, joint-secretary at the Investment Board Nepal. “A total of 150 projects—both government and private—will be showcased at the summit.”
According to the board, delegates are coming from India, China, the US, Japan, the UK, the UAE and Germany.
There are 385 Nepali delegates from the government and the private sector. The summit will see 500 delegates from Nepal’s immediate neighbours—300 Chinese and 200 Indian.
Among the participants, 33 are from the US, 28 from Japan, 14 from the UK and 13 from Bangladesh.
According to the board, all preparations have been concluded.
Among the 150 projects being showcased at the summit, 20 are ready to go, Upadhyay said.
“We have readied four projects for project development agreement (PDA) and project investment agreement (PIA) signing during the summit,” he said.
The summit will showcase hydropower projects totalling 1,200 MW, Nijgadh Airport, Kathmandu-Chitlang-Chitwan expressway project, and tunnel ways, Upadhyay said.
“The third investment summit is different from the past two ones. We have prepared a project ready to take investment so that interested investors can confirm their bid at the summit,” he said.
“The current political leadership is also focused on bringing foreign investment to Nepal. So we can expect more foreign investment in this year’s summit compared to past two summits,” Upadhyay said.
The board has registered around 2,100 delegates online and this will be reviewed to ascertain the actual number of participants.
The event is being organised by the government of Nepal along with the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Nepalese Industry, the Nepal Chamber of Commerce and the Investment Board Nepal.
On the first day, there will be an inaugural session followed by a plenary session titled ‘Exploring Investment Opportunities in Nepal’ and ‘Success Stories of Investment in Nepal’, including project showcasing and market sounding.
The second day will see parallel panel discussions on various topics.
In March 2017, the government organised the first investment summit, drawing investment commitments worth $13.5 billion from six countries. But when it came to realisation, only a fraction of the commitment trickled in.
The second investment summit held in March 2019 secured nearly $12 billion for 50 projects. But only little was realised.
In an interview with the Post on Saturday, Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun said that Nepal had learned a lot from the two previous investment summits. “We have also compared ourselves with our neighbouring countries in terms of attracting investment,” he said.
“For foreign investment, we are bringing a better policy than in the past. With policies related to taxes and investment, we are creating an environment that will make it easier to bring in investments and for investors to take the benefits back without hassles,” the finance minister added.