NRNs urged to invest in Nepal

Wed, Jul 27, 2011 12:00 AM on Others, Others,
KATHMANDU:
The central bank governor Dr Yubraj Khatiwada urged Non Resident Nepalese (NRN) to invest in Nepal.

“NRNs can invest in Nepal directly through mutual funds,” he said addressing the inaugural ceremony of sixth NRN Regional Conference in Moscow on Saturday. “Investing in recently established Hydropower Development and Investment Company will also be a good idea,” he said, adding that NRNs should take advantage of government policies that is opening various sectors for NRNs such as purchase of housing units and investment in share market among others.

In the budget for the current fiscal year, the government has — for the first time — allowed the foreigners to buy flats. The budget has permitted foreigners and NRNs to purchase housing units in Nepal, with a lock in period of five years, hoping that it would help in facilitating foreign exchange inflow in the country.

“Since Nepali banks and financial institutions are providing more interest on deposits, NRN should cash on this by depositing money in Nepali banks,” he suggested.

chairing over the session on ‘Role of NRNs in investment promotion in Nepal’, Khatiwada expressed that NRNs should utilise the capital, experience, knowledge, skill and technology gained in the foreign land in the development process of Nepal.

This year’s NRN Association’s conference was themed as ‘Strengthening NRN Network-Promoting Nepal’, took place in Moscow on July 23-24.

Meanwhile, representatives of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russian Federation (RFCCI) in Moscow to expand economic co-operation between the two nations.

The MoU was signed by and RFCCI’s president S Katarin and FNCCi president Suraj Vaidya — who also participated in the NRN conference — on behalf of their respective organisations.

Russian business representatives, on the occasion, agreed to visit Nepal in order to identify the potential sectors for Russian investment in Nepal. “The agreement is supposed to encourage the entrepreneurs of the respective countries to come together and recognise investment potential sectors,” said Vaidya.

Similarly, Katarin said that the signing of MoU is the start of a new era of economic co-operation between the two nations.

Source: THT