Nepal Infrastructure 
KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba urged business people to explore ways to increase the use of electricity in industry. Inaugurating the 19th Annual General Meeting of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Sunday, PM Deuba asked the business community to reduce the consumption of petroleum products and increase the use of electricity. He made this remark at a time when the country is reeling under a ballooning trade deficit and depleting foreign reserves.
Stating that the private sector has a key role to boost industrial and trade sectors, he said that without the strong involvement of the private sector, industry and business can’t achieve the desired progress. Stating that the share of the private sector in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and total employment creation is more than three-fourths, he urged business people to join hands with the government in the process of reducing the trade deficit, increasing production, and creating employment within the country.
Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu said that the government has given special importance to the delivery of integrated services in order to strengthen the competitive edges of Nepali products in both national and international markets.
On the occasion, CNI’s president, Bishnu Kumar Agarwal, said that the private sector created capital through their hard work by taking risks, adding that it is necessary to change the government’s attitude towards the private sector and profit. “Business people are considered to have been involved
in profiteering only. If someone has done something wrong, he/she should be called wrong. The whole private sector should not be blamed for such anomalies,” said Agarwal. Stating that since 2021, the CNI has been conducting the multi-year campaign ‘Make in Nepal-Swadeshi’ in partnership with the Government of Nepal, he informed that they are going to organise an Infrastructure Conference
on the 23rd and 24th of August with the slogan ‘Infrastructure for Growth’. He said that the lack of investable funds is affecting the industrialists and the demand in the market is decreasing while they are slowly recovering from the effects of Covid.
CNI awards business people
In the general meeting, the former president of the confederation Haribhakt Sharma was honoured with the CNI President’s Award, while Ganpati Banaspati and Reliance Spinning Mills were honoured with the CNI Export Award. Similarly, other business people making a remarkable contribution to the industrial sector were also honoured.
