Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Finance Minister Honorable Bishnu Prasad Paudel participated in the High-level Ministerial Meeting on Biodiversity and Nature Finance hosted by the World Bank and the Government of Colombia today in Washington, DC. Speaking in the meeting, the DPM highlighted severe challenges faced by Nepal due to climate change that has adversely impacted Nepal’s biodiversity and nature conservation efforts. In this backdrop, he called for easier access for countries like Nepal to environment-related international funds to better conserve nature.
Similarly, he held a meeting with Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of IMF and discussed Nepal’s economic performance in the recent time and the progress of ongoing IMF programs in Nepal. While DMD Li expressed satisfaction at Nepal’s economic progress, DPM Paudel appreciated the support provided to Nepal by the IMF in the form of concessional financing, advisory services and technical assistance.
Also today, the DPM participated in a business roundtable meeting hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) at its headquarters. Addressing the roundtable, he invited US businessmen to invest in various potential sectors of Nepal’s economy. Particularly, he highlighted the immense potential of Nepal’s IT sector as Nepal offers thousands of well-trained and competitive IT work-forces at a reasonable cost. President of FNCCI Chandra Dhakal, representatives of Google, Meta, MetLife, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Tesla Hydropower, Karki Consulting Group were among the participants attending the roundtable that was focused on Nepal’s investment climate.
DPM Paudel also met today with Alice Albright, CEO of Millenium Challenge Corporation. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the current progress towards implementation of projects under the MCC Compact that entered into force last year, including the cross-border transmission line project.
