Honorable Chief Guest, Special Guest, Guests, Journalists, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Namaste and Good Evening!

It is my distinct honor and privilege to propose the Vote of Thanks on this significant occasion of the 31st Annual General Meeting of the Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NICCI).

First and foremost, on behalf of NICCI, I would like to extend our deepest gratitude to our Chief Guest, Honorable Finance Minister, Mr. Rameshore Prasad Khanal. He has already left the venue, but we are truly humbled by his presence today. His inaugural address and his thoughts on the economic landscape were truly inspiring.

I would also like to express our sincere thanks to our Special Guest, Honorable Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha. Sir, your special address provided us with crucial insights into the industrial path ahead for Nepal.

I sincerely thank both our Honorable Minister’s for providing us their valuable time today despite of their busiest schedule.

On behalf of NICCI, I wish better health to our Ambassador of India in Kathmandu. A special note of gratitude goes to Dr. Rakesh Pandey, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India. Your presence here reinforces the strong commercial and cultural ties between our two great nations. Thank you for your encouraging remarks.

We are intellectually enriched today, and thanks to our Keynote Speaker, Dr. Bindu Nath Lohani, Chancellor of the University of Nepal. Your speech on "Strengthening the Ecosystem for Scaling Indian Investment in Nepal" was both timely and thought-provoking. Thank you, Chancellor, there was so much to take away from your speech which includes your decades of knowledge and experience.

We must not Bypass investment by being unpredictable. We focus on

1.      Policy Stability

2.      Regulatory Fragmentation

3.      Contract Reinforcement

As quoted by Our keynote speaker earlier, “Government should act as investors partners not gatekeepers.”

Indian investment is long-standing, and is constantly growing. Its deep, and diversified, and it has been constantly growing in all the ups and downs. The FDI and Trade relationship is solid, but it is below potential, which we need to work on, developing from relation-based trade to more system-based trade.

I must acknowledge the solidarity of the private sector leaders present here. A big thank you to:

* President of FNCCI, Mr. Chandra Prasad Dhakal

* President of CNI, Mr. Birendra Raj Pandey

* President of NCC, Mr. Kamalesh Kumar Agrawal

Your remarks and presence here today signify the unity and strength of the Nepali private sector. The private sector can achieve more by being together and working together.

Our event was kicked off with a powerful panel discussion on "Private Sector Collaboration in Investment & Cross-Border Power Trading." I would like to thank our Moderator, Er. Lal Krishna KC, and all the distinguished panelists for such an engaging session. We do hope for open access and increased cross-border trade activity.

Among our distinguished panelists, I would like to specially thank our past patron Amb. Manjeet Singh Puri and Mrs. Neha Aggarwal, who have come from India on such short notice to share their insights with us. I would also like to thank First Secretary (Commerce) of the Indian Embassy, Mr. Suman Shekhar, for your facilitation approach for Indian companies to come to invest in Nepal for tariff-based competitive bidding guidelines, and 5,000 MW in the next 3 years. Either we need to consume or export.

I thank ERC chair Ram Prasad Dhital, NEA managing director Hitendra Dev Shakya, and my fellow power producer Uttam Lama for their time.

I would also like to congratulate all of our NICCI member organizations who received the Certificate of Appreciation for being the Highest Taxpayers, and our Working Committee Mr. Saibal Ghosh & Ms. Sushma Sharma for their outstanding work. I must give a loud praise to a whole team who has worked hard for giving us a detailed baseline survey report on Nepal’s Fruit Candy (Titaura) production. With the recommendations, the report shall definitely enhance local skills transfer, women empowerment, and above all, could be a new export item for Nepal.

I cannot fail to thank our President, Mr. Sunil KC, for his leadership and vision. He has been fully dedicated to giving visible dynamics in trade, transit, tourism, energy, and various other sectors between Nepal and India.

I would like to say a big thanks to our event sponsors today. Your support and generosity have made today’s event a grand success. I would like to give my sincere appreciation to:

* Surya Nepal P. Ltd.

* Asian Paints Nepal P. Ltd.

* Nepal SBI Bank Ltd.

* Berger Jenson & Nicholson Nepal Pvt. Ltd.

* CareEdge Ratings Nepal Ltd.

* MAW Enterprises P. Ltd.

* Nepal Lube Oil Ltd.

* And Unilever Nepal Ltd.

Finally, I would like to thank:

The Media, who will be covering this event, notably VOGUE Ad and event management, as well as SPARK car rentals to help bring this event together.

The management and staff of Dusit Princess for their excellent hospitality.

And the entire NICCI Secretariat for working tirelessly behind the scenes to make this AGM a grand success.

And most importantly, thank you to all the distinguished guests and members for being such a wonderful audience.

Let’s work together to strengthen the bond between our two nations for generations to come.

With this, we conclude the formal session. I now invite you all to join us for Cocktails, Dinner, and Networking.

Before dinner, let’s have a group photo session of this memorable evening, and I would like to welcome our executive members and NICCI secretariat to come to the stage.

Enjoy the Evening. Thank you!!!