Bilateral economic agenda discussed in India-Nepal Economic Partnership Summit 2023

The Summit discussed the ways to create a platform through joint action for deeper economic engagement between India and Nepal.

NL Today

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Birgunj: Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) India jointly organized “India-Nepal Economic Partnership Summit 2023” here on Thursday. The Summit was organized to create a uniquely important platform for discussing a forward looking bilateral economic partnership agenda, in association with the Nepal SBI Bank Ltd (NSBL), Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Startup Network (TSN).

The deliberations focused on opening new avenues of business engagements and investments in the key sectors of economy besides giving a much-needed boost to the trade near the crucial India-Nepal border at Birgunj, a major economic hub of Nepal.

The Summit discussed the ways to create a platform through joint action for deeper economic engagement between India and Nepal (with focus on remittance, imports, exports and Balance of Payment (BoP) challenges in Nepal), to channelize investment from India to Nepal and vice-versa, to re-establish the India-Nepal bilateral relations as the core strength of the sub-regional co-operation in South Asia, to create a sustained convergence of industry and government, to tap into the hidden potential in the Border Area Development Program (with focus on connectivity) and paving the way for India’s major involvement in helping the infrastructural facelift of Nepal’s bordering districts in Bihar and making them the gateways of India-Nepal trade connection, to make cluster-based Economic Zones across Nepal and to further relax the cross-border trade norms to secure and sustain the greater economic

Addressing the Summit, Atul K Thakur, Nodal Coordinator of India-Nepal Centre highlighted the need of having a collaborative approach among the stakeholders’ in the government and industry to tap the potential and also cope the challenges in post-pandemic times. 

President of NICCI Shreejana Rana spoke about the fundamental changes Nepal’s economy is witnessing and stressed on the need to further simplify the procedures of doing business between two countries. Speaking in the Summit, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, who was the Chief Guest of the program, assured to execute required policy interventions to improve the economic indicators and smoothen the trade between the two nations.

Sushil Bhatta, CEO, Investment Board Nepal gave an outline of the recent investments from the major Indian entities like NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) and Dabur.

Among the key participants were Consulate General of India, Satish Pattapu, Dipak Kumar De, MD and CEO of Nepal SBI Bank Ltd and Rizwan Alam, Deputy CEO and CFO of Nepal SBI Bank Ltd. Nepal SBI Bank, with a majority stake of State Bank of India (SBI), has been working for almost three decades in Nepal in the private sector.

The other key participants were, Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya, Member of Parliament from  Nepali Congress, Anil Kumar Agrawal, President of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Anukool Bhatnagar of Managing Partner, Deepak Rauniar, Founder CEO of Oorja World, Abhishek Choudhary, President of NICCI Birgunj Chapter, Ashok Temani, President of FNCCI from Madhesh Pradesh, Vijay Kant Karna, Executive Chairperson of Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism among others.