Nepal should ensure political stability and consistency in its policies to attract investment from India, a top Indian diplomat said today.
If Nepal wants to attract more Indian investments it should address "three Ps - political stability, policy consistency and power availability", said Jaydeep Majumdar, Charge de' Affairs of the Indian Embassy.
"India supports Nepal's economic growth through improved access to the Indian market, encouraging Indian investments in Nepal and assisting in creating economic infrastructure," he added.
"With the help of new trade and transit facilities provided by India, bilateral trade between India and Nepal is set to cross USD 4.5 billion this year, which is an important milestone for both the countries," he said speaking at the opening of the annual general meeting (AGM) of Nepal India Chamber of Commerce of Industries (NICCI).
Bilateral trade was USD 4.21 billion during fiscal 2010-11. Nepal's imports from India amounted to USD 3.62 billion and exports to India aggregated USD 599.7 million.
India is assisting Nepal in building 1,500 km of roads, four massive integrated checkpoints at the border of the two nations and railway lines integrating Nepal with the Indian railway network, Majumdar informed.
With financing through soft credit, the construction of three major corridor transmission lines as well as a 1,000 MW cross border transmission lines, will place Nepal ready to take-off in terms of trade and economic developments, he said.
"India is a source country of Nepal's Foreign Direct Investment and as a close and rapidly growing economy India can be Nepal's largest trade partner," Nepal's Vice President Permananda Jha said at the event.
In order to address a large trade deficit, Nepal should focus on increasing its production for export to India and harness its huge hydropower potential to export electricity to India, said Jha.
Nepal is going to conduct a historic Constituent Assembly elections in November this year for drafting a fully democratic constitution that will ensure peace and stability in the country which is required for advancing towards over all development and economic progress of the country, Jha said.
