Nepali Congress assures private sector of its support, to include its agenda in CA election manifesto

Nepali Congress (NC) has assured the private sector that it will focus on economy in the party’s manifesto for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election.

“The country cannot progress economically without the active participation of private sector,” said Nepali Congress president Shushil Koirala at an interaction organised by Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) here today.

It is during the Nepali Congress rule that the country had seen encouraging economic growth, he said, adding that Nepali Congress always believes on private sector – that is the engine of economic growth – and recognises its role in economic development. “The private sector of the country has come a long way also due to the policy of Nepali Congress and no one should doubt Nepali Congress’s commitment on private sector development.

However, political instability and decade-long Maoist insurgency have taken its toll on economy, Koirala said. “Some political parties with wrong orientation destgroyed the economic environment in the country.”

Democracy and economic growth are inter-related and Nepali Congress reassures its commitment on the need to create investment friendly environment to boost private sector confidence, he said, assuring that Nepali Congress will include the agendas of private sector in the party’s manifesto for the second CA election scheduled for November19.

The FNCCI is inviting all the political parties to discuss their partys’ view on common minimum economic agenda – to ensure country’s prosperity – and seek their commitment on economic development. The interaction today with Nepali Congress was the first in the series.

Senior leader of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba, on the occasion, also assured to include the private sector’s agenda in the party’s manifesto. “Nepali Congress will never deviate from its commitment to private sector,” he added.

Nepali Congress had started the economic reforms when it came to power post 1990, though Nepal was slowly moving towards open market since a couple of years ago. “The liberal economic policy of the Nepali Congress government post the first democratic movement has brought positive impacts in the country,” said the former finance minister and Nepali Congress leader Dr Ram Saran Mahat, who became the finance minister repeatedly and supported private sector development and opened the market.

“The country has achieved tremendous progress in social sector including health, education, telecommunications and media due to liberal economic policy started by the Nepali Congress,” he said, adding that the communists have also started acknowledging the importance of private sector and liberal economic policy recently.

Nepali Congress never organised any bandhs and strikes as it knows such activities would disturb the investment-friendly environment, Mahat said.
The umbrella organisation of the private sector has been asking the political parties to agree on common minimum economic agenda and include economic programmes in their election manifesto to achieve double digit growth and create employment in the country.

“The country needs to focus on energy and infrastructure development, security, political stability right to personal property and massive employment generation,” said FNCCI president Suraj Vaidya, on the occasion.

He also asked Nepali Congress to include them in its election manifesto.