Nepal's Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav (C) takes part in the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations held by the Chinese business community in Nepal in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, on Sept. 25, 2018. Chinese business community in Nepal celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, in Kathmandu on Tuesday evening at the presence of Nepal's Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav and Nepali business community. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)
KATHMANDU, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese business community in Nepal celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, in Kathmandu on Tuesday evening at the presence of Nepal's Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav and Nepali business community.
Mid-Autumn Festival is considered as the second largest festival after the Chinese New Year. With growing presence of the Chinese nationals in Nepal as tourists or entrepreneurs, Chinese festivals are being celebrated more visibly than before nowadays in Nepal.
China is the second largest source of tourists to the Himalayan country after India, the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI). China is also the second largest trading partner of Nepal, according to statistics of Nepali government agencies.
In an event organized by Xinhua News Agency Kathmandu Bureau, to celebrate the festival, Yadav said that Nepali people have the tradition of celebrating festivals of all countries as their own.
"Nepal is a country of diversity but there is unity in that diversity, Nepalis share happiness to each other's festivals," he said.
On the occasion, the minister also urged more Chinese investment in Nepal, saying that the investment climate in Nepal is better than many other countries.
"After completing the fight for people's rights for long, Nepal has entered into the phase of movement for development. The Nepali government has adopted the policy of 'prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali'."
He sought increased investment from China in order to help the Nepali government to achieve the goal of prosperous Nepal. "We are in favour of giving equal opportunities to all foreign investors and do whatever necessary to attract more investment," he said.
The FDI commitments from China stand at 84 percent of the total FDI pledges that Nepal received in the last fiscal 2017-18 which stands at 404 million U.S. dollars, according to Nepal's Department of Industry, which registers industries. The FDI commitment was the largest from China in the previous two fiscal years too.
Speaking on behalf of Chinese communities, Jun Zhu, site manager (Asia Pacific Division) of China CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd, which is involved in building an international airport at tourism city of Pokhara in western Nepal, said that Chinese companies in Nepal were alleviating power shortage, improving the infrastructure and promoting the progress of Nepal's communication facilities. "Each step is to improve Nepal step by step," he said.
Speaking to Xinhua, he said that he felt the business environment in Nepal has improved compared to the past. "But, procedure delay in clearing documents still exists," he said.
Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, president of Nepal-China Chambers of Commerce and Industry said that Nepal is yet to bring large scale Chinese investment in Nepal.
"Nepal has the stable government now which is supportive to invest in Nepal. Now, the country should be able to attract large scale investment now," he said.
