President Bidya Devi Bhandari who is presently on the nine-day state visit to China has said economic transformation is the agenda of priority of Nepal.
While addressing the Nepal-China Economic and Trade Forum here Sunday, the Head-of-the-State said, “We have a stable government, which is the strongest in the history of Nepal. The government has a clear vision, agenda and direction of the development of the country. Economic transformation is our priority agenda."
The President further said Nepal has to move fast to realize people’s ever exorbitant expectations. It does not have luxury to waste time and energy. ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’ is the national resolve in Nepal. Nepal's development efforts keep its people at the center, she added.
She apprised the gathering that Nepal’s development challenges are huge and manifold and through the country is endowed with both natural and human resources, it lacks adequate material resources and technology to tap development potentials and the country needs support and cooperation of international community including neighbors to realize the national resolve.
As she said Nepal and China are neighbors and close and trustworthy friends who share a long history of friendship and cooperation and are tied up by geography, culture and traditions. "The conduct of the bilateral relations which are trouble-free is based on the ‘Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence’. Our relations are trouble-free," the President reminded.
According to her, China is Nepal's most trusted and reliable development partner. Government and the people of Nepal always appreciate the government and the people of China for their continued support and assistance to the socio-economic development endeavors of Nepal, the President shared.
Stating that Nepal had settled political issues through the promulgation of a progressive constitution in September 2015 which ended a decade-long political transition, she said Nepal has an investment friendly environment as political stability has ensured policy stability and security of the investors. She urged Chinese entrepreneurs and businessmen to tap its benefits.
Taking the reference of Investment Summit that Nepal hosted last month, the President said the presence of the Chinese entrepreneurs was the largest in the Summit and she was happy to share this at the Forum. “We welcome substantial Chinese investment in every sector. Protection of investment is our responsibility. We have accorded top priority to facilitate Chinese investment in Nepal.”
Informing the Forum that Government of Nepal has announced the year 2020 as Visit Nepal Year, she said in the context, Nepal expect qualitative rise in the number of tourists from our next door neighbor, China.
She expressed hope for cooperation from China for greater publicity of Nepal as a tourist destination. “We welcome investment in tourism infrastructure.” She again took time to request the Chinese investors to confidently invest in and transfer technology to Nepal and reap the benefit.
“We are going to operate one-stop-center soon to facilitate foreign investors. At present, tax regime in Nepal is liberal and predictable. Multinationals companies working in Nepal are making good return of their investment. This confirms that Nepal is an attractive destination for investment.”
Expressing her happiness to address the joint meeting of business community of Nepal and China, the President thanked the organizers for hosting such important event on the occasion of her state visit to this close friendly country.
