Nepal invites Gadkari to its first infrastructure summit

Nepal has invited union minister Nitin Gadkari to address its first ever infrastructure summit to be held next month to share India's experiences and ideas on infrastructure and rural sector development.
The Minister of Road Transport and Highways will deliver the keynote speech at the Nepal Infrastructure Summit-2014 to be convened in Kathmandu on November 11-12.
The summit, being organised by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, will be attended by more than 400 delegates including investors, power developers, government officials, architects and engineers from Nepal, India, China, Japan and Philippines, CNI director general Megh Nath Neupane said.
Several officials and private sector representatives from India will participate in the two-day event, he said.

"We are also expecting ministerial level participation from China, which is yet to be confirmed," Neupane said.
"As the (Narendra) Modi government in India has prioritised infrastructure and rural sector development, we have invited Gadkari to share his experiences and ideas that can be helpful for Nepal in its endeavour towards development," CNI senior vice president Hari Bhakta Sharma said.

The conference on the theme "Accelerating Investment in Infrastructure" aims to start and sustain a national conversation on infrastructure development so that policies, regulations, networks, technical know-how and financing could be pooled together and deployed in the country under public-private partnership model.

The conference will cover a wide range of topics including infrastructure, energy, transportation, urban infrastructure, rural development and agriculture.
The event would also help the government to identify prospective investment areas at a time when foreign and domestic investors are shying away due to lack of consistent policy frameworks and favourable regulatory mechanism.