Nepal in democratic transition, says former PM Deuba

Nepal's former prime minister and Sher Bahadur Deuba Tuesday said his country was in a crucial phase of democratic transition and the government and the parties were working hard to ensure that the constituent assembly-cum-parliamentary elections were held by this November.

Addressing a gathering at Observer Research Foundation Tuesday, Deuba, a senior Nepali Congress leader, also sought "India's support in encouraging the Maoists to adopt peaceful means for politics for now and forever".

According to a release, Deuba said he was confident of Nepali Congress heading the next government in his country and stressed the need to develop "a joint approach" to exploit the huge hydro power potential of Nepal.

He said Nepal has the potential of generating over one lakh megawatt of power.

Noting development of water resources for mutual benefit was a key area of priority for him, he said that working jointly on using water resources would also help in irrigation, flood control and mitigating challenges of climate change.

He said Nepal wants to participate in progress of India and creating "synergy between Nepal's resources and India's capital, knowledge and technology" would help achieve goals of economic transformation for both the countries.

Inviting Indian private sector to invest in Nepal, Deuba said his country would work towards improving the investment scenario after the elections, learning from India's economic growth over the last two decades.