Economic issues should be the main focus now, says Finance Minister
With the decade-long conflict now declared over, Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat has called for making economic issues the main agenda.
"If we continue to shadow the economic agenda even now, then the country will not be able to progress," said Dr. Mahat, addressing a roundtable conference on "Bringing the Economic Agenda to the Center-Stage," organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Thursday.
Dr. Mahat said that to usher in prosperity, the country would need investment from the government, the private sector and the donors. "There is no alternative to market economy if we are to accelerate the pace of economic development. But we should not forget social justice while pursuing market economy," Dr. Mahat said.
Dev Gurung, leader of the Maoists, also agreed that economic agenda need to be brought to center stage in the coming days. He, however, said the existing feudal production relations should be dismantled to take advantage of economic opportunities.
Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal, an economist close to the Unified Marxist Leninist, added that the country should adopt federal system to achieve proportional development in economic distribution, agriculture and non-agriculture development, land reforms, energy, road network and so on. On the other hand, Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, leader of Nepali Congress (Democratic), said that economic policies had failed in the past due to lack of common approach among political actors.
President of CNI Binod Kumar Chaudhary urged all political parties to come together to develop a common economic agenda. nepalnews.com sd Nov 24 06
