NEW DELHI, June 9 (UPI) -- Nepal has invited Indian businessmen to explore investment opportunities in the Himalayan kingdom for mutual benefit, saying the era of conflict is over.
"This is a new era after the establishment of the people's sovereignty in Nepal. Peace has now been resorted after the end of a decade-long conflict that had held back the country's socio-economic advancement," Nepal Finance Minister Ram S. Mahat said Thursday.
Mahat said that besides bringing peace, one of the major objectives of the government was to reduce poverty and restore economic growth, both of which depend on increased levels of investment.
"It is in this context that our attention is now focussed on increased investment, public and private, domestic and foreign. The process of economic reforms that started in 1990 will be consolidated. Environment for foreign direct investment will be made more conducive," he said.
The finance minister said cheap and abundant labor, an educated technical workforce provide investors with incentives to produce intermediate products for Indian companies in Nepal.
Meanwhile, Nepal Solidarity Committee, an India-based pro-communist group that supported the democracy struggle in Nepal, assured Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of the Indian public's support for establishing a secular and modern state.
"Mr. Koirala informed the delegation of the road map drawn up by the political parties leading to an interim government," said D. Raja, a senior communist leader.
The head of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh, also expressed concern over Maoist participation in mainstream politics and the role of the monarch as a ceremonial entity.
