In preparation of an investment summit scheduled for late March in Kathmandu, the Nepalese embassy in Beijing hosted a pre-summit conference on Monday, briefing Chinese enterprises investment opportunities in the south Asian country.

In 2017, China was Nepal's largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI), second largest trade partner, and second largest source country for tourists to Nepal, according to Leela Mani Paudyal, Nepalese ambassador in China.

The ambassador spoke about Nepal's "untapped natural, cultural and human resources," and invited Chinese businesses to invest in the country.

Maha Prasad Adhikari, CEO of the Investment Board of Nepal, provided more details on the investment needs and opportunities in the country. He listed 10 fields as priority sectors for investment: agriculture, banking and finance, education, energy, health, information and communications technology, manufacturing, mines and minerals, tourism, and transportation. 

According to Adhikari, Nepal needs to increase the investment in infrastructure from the current 3 to 4 percent of GDP to around 12 percent in order to become a middle-income country by 2030, and it needs annual investments of US$17 billion to meet its sustainable development goals by that year.

He mentioned in particular the government's targets in the next decade: 2,000 kilometers of railways, 2,000 kilometers of paved roads, five international airports, 15,000 megawatts of energy, and 5 million tourists.

Investment in Nepal from the Chinese mainland reached US$493 million from 2017 to 2018, as compared to US$63 million from India, the second largest FDI source.  

The upcoming investment summit will be held in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu from March 29 to 30 and is expected to attract some 400 foreign participants.