Nepal's PM calls for foreign investment; seeks major economy boost in next 5 years

Nepal's Prime Minister K P Oli on Friday urged foreign investors, including from India and China, to invest in the Himalayan nation, saying it required around USD 88 billion business in the next five years to graduate from the category of Least Developed Countries to the Lower Middle Income country.

Inaugurating the two-day Nepal Investment Summit, 2019 here, Oli said that Nepal was committed to improve investment climate through enactment of new investment laws and pursuing a consistent foreign investment policies.

"Nepal aims to graduate from the Least Developed Countries' list in the short term and this requires around 88 billion US dollar investments in the next five years period," Oli said during the inauguration ceremony.

Terming Nepal a "virgin land" for investment, Oli said that his country already has a duty free arrangements with India for most of its products while China has granted a significant number of Nepal's tariff lines duty free access to its market.

The summit is being attended by over 300 investors from over a dozen countries, mainly from China and India. The event is likely to witness signing of a dozen of MoUs.

The event commenced amidst tight security following a bomb blast last month at the head office of Ncell, the private telecom giant in Bhaisepati of Kathmandu, killing one person and injuring two others.

Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range has deployed security personnel at 109 places and deployed 4,200 additional Armed Police Force, to prevent any untoward incident, a senior police official said.