February 15: The World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) is holding a high-level conference in Nepal. The conference to be held here in the third week of June. This is the first time such a conference is being held in Nepal. Even the government has termed it the biggest conference so far.

According to the Ministry of Finance, representatives of 92 countries will attend the conference. According to government officials, the World Bank has already agreed in principle to host the conference in Nepal.

According to Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, the Government of Nepal had written a letter to the World Bank seeking its support to hold the conference. After receiving Nepal's letter, the World Bank expressed its agreement in principle. Finance Minister Mahat said that a high-level conference of this kind has not been organized in Nepal so far.

"This will be the first such gathering," he said at a press conference held to review the budget, adding, "Representatives of 92 countries from around the world, including the president of the World Bank, will come to Nepal."

According to Finance Minister Mahat, this conference will pave the way of foreign investment in Nepal. Currently, projects worth more than Rs 200 billion are being implemented in Nepal with the support of the World Bank.

Officials of the Ministry of Finance are currently busy with homework as the Third Investment Summit will be held ahead of the World Bank’s conference.

Investors from China, Bangladesh, India, Japan, UK, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries are being invited to the Investment Summit on April 28 and 29. Finance Ministry sources said that the government is preparing to send a formal letter to the investors of those countries.

In the half-yearly review program of the budget, Minister Mahat claimed that if the investment conference is successful, the investment in multinational companies operating in Nepal will increase. In the meeting of the Investment Summit Steering Committee held last Thursday, Minister Mahat said that international investors are expressing interest in the summit.

“There is an unprecedented opportunity for us to attract investment. The government will leave no stone unturned in legal and policy reforms to attract foreign investors as well as Nepali investors and non-resident Nepalis," the finance minister’s secretariat said quoting FM Mahat.

The government has already started the process of amending laws related to investment, targeting the investment summit and the World Bank conference.

According to government officials, the work of amending some laws and regulations has been carried out with the aim of removing the legal and policy obstacles for investment.

Amending those laws will also address the problems seen in delay in implementation of projects.

Besides, the government is also emphasizing on the country sovereign credit rating. According to Dhaniram Sharma, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, the credit rating work of Nepal has been expedited. Since the investment conference will be held in April, it is likely that the rating will be completed before that.