مؤتمر نيبال للاستثمار | Nepal Investment Summit

At the invitation of the Government of Nepal, I had the pleasure of participating in the Nepal Investment Summit, held in Kathmandu on 28–29 April 2024. It was an experience I greatly value, as it offered a direct opportunity to understand Nepal’s economic vision, explore the investment opportunities being presented, and meet government representatives, business leaders, investors, and participants from different countries.

For me, attending the Summit was not merely participation in an international event. From the outset, I was keen to view it within a broader context. Nepal, widely known for its unique mountainous landscape and strong tourism profile, was seeking through the Summit to present a more comprehensive picture of its economy and highlight the opportunities available across a range of sectors, while sending a clear message to international investors that the country is looking to attract capital, expertise, technology, and partnerships capable of supporting its development path.

The Summit also took place at a time of increasingly intense competition among countries seeking to attract foreign direct investment. Investors today no longer look only at the project itself; they also assess the regulatory environment, procedural clarity, policy stability, ease of doing business, and the state’s ability to turn announced opportunities into projects that can actually be implemented.

According to the official materials published about the Summit, the event formed part of a broader government effort to improve the investment climate and introduce opportunities available to both domestic and international investors. It was clear that the objective went beyond presenting a list of individual projects; it also sought to communicate a wider vision of the role of investment in the country’s economic development plans.

From my observation of the Summit’s proceedings, I was particularly struck by the emphasis placed on the private sector, foreign investment, partnership development, and creating an environment better able to attract capital and expertise. Sectors such as energy, infrastructure, tourism, industry, agriculture, and services also received notable attention within the broader framework of opportunities Nepal is seeking to develop.

In my view, one of the most important aspects of Nepal’s experience lies in its attempt to transform its natural resources, geographical position, and development needs into opportunities with genuine investment potential. Need alone does not create an opportunity, and resources alone do not guarantee investment. Real value begins when a country is able to present a clear project, a comprehensible regulatory environment, and a practical route that gives investors confidence in implementation and continuity.

Nepal occupies a highly distinctive geographical position between India and China, two of the largest economies in Asia and the world. This location gives Nepal an importance that extends beyond its borders or the size of its domestic market, particularly when considering the future potential for trade, connectivity, and economic integration with a vast regional environment.

This dimension was very much present in my own reading of the Summit. Investment in emerging markets is not always measured solely by the size of the current domestic market, but also by the growth opportunities that future transformations may create and by the potential access to wider markets.

Nepal also has significant potential in hydropower, in addition to its well-known tourism resources and its continuing need to expand infrastructure, services, and development projects. These sectors make it a market worth following, particularly for investors taking a medium- to long-term view rather than focusing only on traditional and already saturated markets.

One of the aspects I value most about my participation in the Summit was the opportunity it created for direct meetings and discussions with a number of business leaders, investors, and participants from different countries. In my view, the true value of international conferences does not lie only in formal speeches or scheduled sessions, but also in the spaces they create for networking, exchanging experience, understanding markets, and exploring areas of cooperation.

Among the meetings I particularly appreciated was my meeting with Mr. Nava Raj Subedi, who at the time served as Nepal’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We had a cordial and constructive discussion on cooperation opportunities and areas of investment, as well as the potential that relations and communication between Nepal and Saudi Arabia could offer for building partnerships and expanding areas of mutual cooperation.

For me, this discussion was one of the meaningful aspects of the Summit because such meetings allow opportunities to be assessed in a more realistic way, beyond general presentations, while also creating space for an exchange of perspectives on investor needs and on what emerging markets can offer in terms of new possibilities.