May 2009
Economy

Agriculture has remained the mainstay of the Nepali economy although it occupies less than 20 percent of land that is available for agriculture and farming. This sector employs 65 percent of the active labour force and contributes 39 percent in GDP. The Nepal Living Standard Survey 2003 shows that out of total households, 77.5 percent possess land with an average holding of 0.8 hectare per family. Around 46 percent of the agricultural land is still deprived of irrigation facility. Commercial farming with optimum use of inputs is hampered as land size is fragmented and farming practices are carried out in traditional way. This has resulted in low productivity causing the farms to run at subsistence level.

Topographical constraint has become the major factor behind the food problem. Out of the total land- mass, 44 percent is covered by the mountains and 42 percent by hills rugged with difficult terrain. Lack of irrigation, coupled with adverse climatic conditions, has decreased the potential of increased cropping in mountains and hills. Lack of adequate transport infrastructure has made food supply a Herculean task as the amount of grant for transportation of food grains provided by Nepal Food Corporation is on constant rise, thus making it unable to keep up with its grant assistance to serve the foodless. This increment is mainly attributed to rising fuel prices and the corresponding price hike by the airlines that serve the remote areas.

Nepal is the net importer of fossil fuel. Petroleum products in Nepal are imported by state-controlled Nepal Oil Corporation through the Indian government-controlled oil company. Indian Oil Corporation. Some efforts are being made to develop alternate sources of energy within the country but these are very scant in proportion to the energy need of the country.

Food crisis issue in Nepal can be looked from two dimensions. First, the supply of food grains in the remote mountain areas where the settlements are sparse and most of the households can manage food for not more than three month in a year. Second, the management of smooth supply of food grains and essential commodities in the urban centres and other accessible areas. The rising price of fuel, on one hand, has caused adverse impact on food prices due to the increase in transportation cost and the international price-rise of essential commodities including food grains. In the other, has directly impact on the prices of foods, particularly affecting the fixed income groups and urban poor. The cases of syndicate and cartelling by importers and transporters have added difficulties in making foods available at reasonable prices to the consumers.

The decline in production of winter crops by almost 70 percent (particularly wheat) during the current year has certainly posed a threat to food security in hills and mountains. This has necessitated import of food grains from outside and funnelling of additional fund for transportation of foods in these areas. A survey recently carried out by Nepal Development Research Institute revealed that around 3.9 million people in rural areas of Nepal are at the risk of food insecurity due to decreased production and increasing food prices. The report also suggests that there is need for providing food assistance to 2.5 million people immediately.

The case of fuel supply is also associated with the short supply and disruption of the supply chain. The fall in the prices of petroleum products in recent months has given comfort to consumers but the moot question is: how long will this continue? Increment in transpotation has price has already been signaled. It is likely that difficult situation is in the offing to restore the smooth supply of petroleum products.

Only the state-controlled Nepal Oil Corporation is in petroleum import business. The company is facing criticism from various quarters for inefficiency and in effectiveness of its operation. The transportation and distribution of the petroleum products are assigned by the company to the private players. However, there are problems of syndication, leakage, wastage and unscrupulous practices of adulteration during transportation and distribution of the products. Government of Nepal has announced a policy of bringing the private sector in petroleum trading, right from import to transportation and storage to distribution. Necessary regulatory framework is being worked out for the same.

The issue related to food security has been of prime concern in view of the problem faced by the common people in remote and rural areas. The present food crisis is likely to be further aggravated due to the decline in the production of wheat and other winter crops. This demands an early response to dispatch more food grains in the food-deficit areas. Meanwhile, there is a need for maintaining an adequate buffer stock to meet the emergency need and market intervention by the government entities in case of unusual price rise.

Coping with the fuel crisis is a baffling task for the government. The supply of POL products through the government channel needs to be reviewed in the wake of volatility of the prices in the international market. There is a need for developing alternate source of energy in meeting the demand in a sustainable basis. Development of hydro-power, solar, wind and bio-fuels is the need of time. A concerted approach in long-term energy planning needs to be taken by making a rational projection and planned development of the various forms of energy. The stalled petroleum exploration project should be revived in a bid to plan the importation and use of fossil fuels. It is obvious that the consumption of energy will go up in the days ahead with the advancement of the development process. Devising a long-term energy plan and its timely implementation would be the eventual solution to meet the rising demand of fuel and energy in the country.

South Asia is considered to be the granary of the world with its long and wide stretched farm lands. But the irony lies in being a food deficit part of the world as the productivity of the farms has remained far below in comparison to the developed world. This demands for a collective approach to tackle the food shortages by removal of restriction in food export and import, increasing agricultural productivity, technology transfer and maintaining the food stock at the regional level with a capacity to supply food grains during the time of crisis.

Similar initiatives can be taken up in supply of petroleum products as these countries’ fuel import bill is increasing at a growing pace. South Asian countries may embark on the initiatives for collective supply of fossil fuels by importing the crude collectively and refining them within the region and distributing it to the member countries. The stock can be maintained at various refineries so that it could be transferred to the member countries as regular and emergency supply. Collective hedging on the petroleum products could be carried out in order to protect the consumers from the rising fuel prices. A regional approach for the energy development should be taken up in order to attain complementarities on energy trade that will strengthen the process of regional economic integration in its true spirit.

(Ojha is the Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, Government of Nepal.)

Economic realities & Political Parties

Nepal enjoys comparative advantage in three areas- hydro-electricity, tourism and to a lesser extent, agriculture. Though we may aspire to become a manufacturing power-house, we will not be able to fulfill this aspiration. Economy of scale will simply not permit us in this. Our much bigger neighbours India and China, which also happen to be the two fastest growing economies of the world, make it impossible for us. But the Maoists don’t want to admit this reality. For them, theories like ‘economy of scale’ and ‘comparative advantage’ mean nothing but useless capitalist terminologies. Their belief is simple – if the political system is correct, the economy too will be automatically correct, else the economy will go the wrong way. According to them, industries were bound to suffer because the previous regimes were incorrect. Therefore, they conclude that industrial prosperity will materialize only under the Maoist government. With these beliefs, they decided to reopen industries like Hetauda Textiles a nd Gorakhkali Tyre that were closed down because they proved to be unfeasible. The Maoists would not realize their mistaken theory even after another tranche of huge public money is wasted on futile effort to revive those industries as long as the workers in such industries are loyal members of Maoist trade union.

Our past efforts to industrialize did not work despite providing attractive incentives to the industries. Of course, there was a mushroom growth in the number of industries due to such incentives but the sole intention of their promoters was to misuse those incentives. At one point of time, everything from vegetable oil to world brand TV was produced in our country. The target market of all those industries was India. Being a closed economy during those days, India was a very lucrative market for both legal and illegal exports. However, the products we produced were nothing but the assembled final pieces of various finished components imported from overseas. While importing these components, there was no technology transfer and there was hardly any value addition while producing the goods. Very little employment opportunities were generated as these industries were involved only in assembling and packaging.

This is our past experience and our reality. The hard core economic truths and realities will not change just because the communists have come to power or command a majority in the parliament. The Maoists are yet to acknowledge this reality. Till they realize it, they will keep on experimenting with Hetauda Textiles, Gorakhkali Tyre, Biratnagar Jute Mills and the likes, which are examples of such trial and error.

Of our three areas of comparative advantage, huge investment is needed to develop and exploit the hydro-power potential. Foreign and private investments is the main source of such investment. Apart from investment, this industry needs superior technology. Modern day mega-structures cannot be constructed following the Mao-style of mass mobilization or forced labour which was practiced during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Modern day China has invested huge capital and bought and introduced world class technology while constructing the Three Gorges Dam on Yangtze River in Sichuan province.

Turning to the second area of our comparative advantage – tourism – it must be noted that because of the very nature of the tourism industry, its promotion cannot be done by government alone without the assistance from private sector. In fact, whatever achievement Nepal has made during the last two decades or so in the area of tourism is because of the ingenuity and the hard work of the private sector. The government institutions (whether Nepal Airlines or diplomatic missions abroad) have contributed very little. Moreover, the Maoist party is not being regarded as investors-friendly political force because of their actions. With their leadership in the government, the skepticism is wide and deep rooted.

Agriculture, too, will do better in the hands of private individuals than that of government or large companies. In order to commercialize the subsistence oriented agricultural practice and to facilitate the farmers, the government can and should play the role of a catalyst. It should take appropriate policy measures and provide inputs and support services. But the operation and marketing part should be left on the shoulder of the farmers. Except forming co-operatives for collection and marketing of certain products like dairy and horticulture products, any sort of socialist style of collective production is bound to fail. Collective farming or government handling in the trading of farm products is bound to meet the fate like that of Tea Development Corporation and Nepal Food Corporation. The success achieved during last 10 years or so in the area of dairy, horticulture, poultry and some cash crops is because of the private farmers. Among all the government-owned agro-enterprises, only Dairy Development Corporation has been able to survive without the government’s financial support. It succeeded to do so only after it started to diversify the products and privatized its selling operations after it faced competition from private dairies.

In our case, comparative advantage is just another name of natural advantage. That also means we are at a very primitive stage of development; our products are only those that are bestowed to us by the Mother Nature. If we have comparative advantage in any service sector other than tourism, it is the security service. The credibility and the fame that the ‘Gorkha’ soldiers have earned can bring in massive foreign employment and remittance income to the nation. Following September 11 attacks on the US, international security demand has sky-rocketed. All our government needs to do is launch capacity building program for the people who want to go abroad for such employment, do massive lobbying and marketing among foreign governments and strengthen the regulations for the agents through which the people go abroad for work. But political parties who run the government cannot see anything beyond partisan interests. Their whole focus is to penetrate into those workers’ groups - both inside the country and out, and create party fronts among them for the sake of votes and donations/levies.

In fact, the parties’ priorities are always political. This mind-set is responsible for pushing the economic agenda to the back-stage. Most of the party leaders are hardly conversant on hard core economic realities of the nation, the universal economic truths, the theories of natural and comparative advantage, the resources and capability constraints etc. Nepali Congress which led the government for most of the time in post-democratic Nepal has always been a poor manager, unable to govern the economy of the country towards prosperity. However, despite their ineptitude and ‘socialist’ legacy, successive finance ministers from Nepali Congress somehow charted liberal economic policies, which laid some foundation for growth. But intra-party fight and lack of matching measures in the party to woo the poor and to uplift the weaker sections of the society failed to secure whatever little credit such ministers deserved. CPN-UML, suspended between the opposites of social democratic practice and communist ideology, always adopted a populist path at the cost of long-term economic development and took half-measures only.

Now it is the turn of the Maoists, who believe in classical Marxism. Instead of learning from the historical failures of classical Marxism, they vow to be an example to the whole world by making the same classical communist model a success in Nepal. It is a foregone conclusion that they will not be able to succeed in this endeavour. But they are bent on making the poor Nepalis the guinea-pigs in their experiment. Till they realize that their model is a failure, the Maoists will have created numerous alibis for their failures. The alibis could be anything or anybody- the conspiracies of imperialists, foreign expansionists, domestic regressive elements, the reactionaries and so on. The game of blame and their ‘war’ on those whom they blame will continue till the economy crumbles down like that of the former Soviet Union or before the regime is changed by force through international intervention like that in Cambodia.

On the other hand, ethnic, regional and racial forces or parties believe that, in the past, the monarchy and the unitary system of governance hindered the development of the regions they claim to be theirs. Economic realities do not matter to them either; they think that independent or autonomous statehood will be a passport for their growth and prosperity. That is why they are chanting the mantra of their exclusive right over three resources of ‘their’ area - water, forest and land. If and when a federal structure is designed in line with their demands, it will turn into a catastrophe for the country. The fragmentation of the already limited resources and the claims and counter-claims of states over them, the ensuing conflict, the escalated cost-benefit ratio, the contraction of domestic market and the increased hassles to reach the international market together will halt or hinder development. Even at the onset of such circumstances, the propensity of our leaders to understand the issue and take corrective actions seems very low.

(The author is a retired Secretary of Government of Nepal)

Let there be Nepal Business Forum (NBF)

Public Private Dialogue (PPD) has proved to be an effective way to address the development issues in over 20 countries with Bangladesh and Cambodia as the best example. Here is a proposal to start similar effort in Nepal.

Establishment of the Nepal Business Forum (NBF) by the government of Nepal will be the first step towards actually starting formulation and implementation of an economic agenda for the nation. With this, the government will clearly show two things: (1) the importance it gives to the formulation and implementation of an Economic Agendas that will ensure inclusive development if the nation, and (2) that it is willing to do things differently than in the past in order to ensure correct and rapid economic development of the nation.

The NBF should be structured in a manner that allows its effective operation, not only to formulate plans but to put in place a process that allows discussions of ideas, formulation of plans, implementation of the plans and evaluation of the implementation exploring the room to improvements. Once such structure of the NBF is agreed, the next critical challenge is to get the ‘right’ people into the right committees. The success of this entire endeavor depends on this.

NBF Structure

The Structure of the NBF could be as follows:

• Chairperson – The Prime Minister: The NBF should be chaired by the Prime Minister to endow it with the importance that it requires. It will ensure quick implementation of the NBF's decisions across ministries and departments.

• Vice Chairperson – Finance Minister: In the Government, the Finance Minister is the focal point for all economic activities. As the PM can give very less time to the NBF becasue of his other priorities, the Finance Minister should take the role of Vice Chairperson who will in effect be responsible for coordinating the activities of the various committees and their recommendations and taking them to the Cabinet or the Prime Minister for finalization.

• Member Secretary :This is the most significant position and requires ranked at least in the line of a Nepal Government Secretary. This individual has to possess the capacity to receive deferential regard and be heard by the bureaucracy, private sector and international community. The person should be proactive and able to manage the NBF office, coordinate the meetings of all the committees, ensure proper documentation and communicate on a continuous basis with all stakeholders.

• he NBF should have a series of committees focused on specific areas of the economy with the right people from the government, public sector and private sector in each committee. The committees would be focused on the areas of the nation’s core economic competencies. There should be some other committees as well to examine other areas of interest that affect the entire sector.

NBF Committee Structure

As the NBF will function through a series of focused committees looking into specific areas of the nation’s economic activities and formulating specific actions needed in those areas, it is very important that these committees get the most effective structure. (See charts on page 32 for the suggested structure of the NBF and its committees).

Nepal Business Forum National Steering Committee (NBFNSC)

• The Nepal Business Forum National Steering Committee (NBFNSC) would be the highest ranking committee in the NBF.

• The NBFNSC meeting will be Chaired by the NBF Chairperson

• Besides the Chairperson, the NBFNSC will have Vice Chairperson, Member Secretary and Co-Chairs of all the NBF Committees.

• All Members of the Cabinet heading Ministries that look into various sectors of the economy, and Secretaries of which may be Co-Chairs of NBF Committees, will also be the Members of the NBFNSC.

• Representatives of political parties, preferably those who are in-charge of the economic policy departments of the respective parties (preferably former Finance Ministers) can be other members of the NBFNSC.

• Other intellectuals may be invited to participate in the NBFNSC as and when required to add value to the same.

• Each NBF Committee will present (for discussions and agreement) an update outlining the plans and targets set at the previous meeting, actual achievements, reasons for variations and plans going forward.

• Each of the NBF Committees will present the recommendations for discussion, amendment and implementation.

• If recommendations of the NBF Committees is forwarded through the Vice Chairperson of the NBF to the Cabinet and implemented in the time frame between meetings of the NBFNSC, the same would be also tabled for information by the respective NBF Committees in the NBFNSC meeting

• The decisions of the NBFNSC will be deemed as decisions of the Government of Nepal

• The NBFNSC will be responsible for constituting the various NBF Committees and adding and removing NBF Committees as needed

• The NBFNSC will also have the responsibility of appointing Members to the various NBF Committees

• The NBFNSC will try to meet once every quarter of a year failing which it will meet at least every six months

Nepal Business Forum Executive Committee (NBFEC)

• As it is not possible for the NBFNSC to meet very frequently, the NBF can have a Nepal Business Forum Executive Committee (NBFEC) .

• The NBFEC will be chaired by the Vice Chairperson of the NBF and have as its members the NBF Member Secretary and Co-Chairs of the NBF Committees.

• The NBFEC will be responsible for reviewing and agreeing on the specific action plans of each of the Committees

• The NBFEC will be responsible for reviewing the achievements of targets of each of the Committees and planning amendments if needed

• The NBFEC will have the role of coordination between inter-NBF Committee issues

• The NBFEC will be the final authority to decide what is placed on the agenda of the NBFNSC meeting.

• The NBFEC will be the final authority to decide if any recommendation is to be taken to the Cabinet for decision prior to the NBFNSC meeting.

• The NBFEC will call meetings with either all its Members or as may be needed with only the Members that have issues to be tabled and discussed.

• The NBFEC will be responsible for dealing with and resolving any and all issues with regard to the day to day functioning of the NBF.

Nepal Business Forum Committee (NBFC)

• The main body of the work of the NBFEC will be carried out by the Nepal Business Forum Committee (NBFC) The NBFNSC will have to setup a series of NBF Committees to look into the main areas of the nation’s economy. Each of these Committees can have the following structure:

• Co-Chairs: The relevant Ministry’s Secretary of the Government of Nepal and an individual representing the respective area from the private sector will be Co-Chairs for each of NBFC.

• Members of each of the NBFC will come from the respective relevant area of the economy of which the NBFC is in-charge, with representatives from the Government of Nepal bureaucracy, public sector and private sector. One of the critical determinants of success of the NBF will be the correct choice of individuals in the NBFCs. The individuals must be able to look above personal interests and have the vision to deliver ‘greater good’ for the sector as a whole.

• Each NBFC will discuss issues and formulate their specific plans for implementation. These could be the amendment of Laws and Regulations, changes in processes, implementation of programs or policies etc.

• Each NBFC can have Sub-Committees to provide more focus on specific areas under the purview of the NBFC. The Chair of these Sub-Committees must be a Member of the respective NBFC.

• The NBFC will discuss the issues pertaining to their respective areas, not only highlighting problems but also formulating solutions to the same and drawing up a detailed implementation plan.

• Specific targets, deadlines and resources will be allocated to each NBFC through the national budget and performance and progress will be tracked on a monthly basis.

• The NBFC will be responsible for end-to-end, i.e. from idea to implementation of each of the issues it takes up.

• The final ‘recommendation’ will be put up in a standardized format for all NBFCs to the NBFEC for discussions and amendments. If supported by the committees at this level, they will be placed to the NBFNSC for approval.

• Following approval by the NBFNSC the NBFC will once again be responsible to follow through the implementation of the same. The NBFC will have the authority to liaise with relevant ministries and departments in the government in implementing their plan.

• The NBFC will also be responsible for putting up the request for any amendment that may be identified as necessary during the evaluation of the implementation.

NBF Committees

When we set up NBF Committees of Working Groups we need to first determine the critical areas of our economy that will be able to provide greatest value addition in the nation’s economic development. Like any individual, a nation also has some ‘core strengths or core competencies’. If the nation looks at maximizing the contribution of these core areas of intrinsic strengths and competencies, the value addition is fast and great. The 5 pillars of Nepal’s economy are:

1. Agriculture

• Enhancing productivity through land reform

• Cooperative farming

• Greater value added production

• Herbs and jungle product development

2. Tourism

• Hotels & Lodges

• Restaurants

• Trekking & Mountaineering

• Adventure sports & Value added activities

• Associated supply chain industries

3. Infrastructure

• Hydro Power

• Cement

• Road connectivity & Transportation

• Irrigation

4. Services Sector

• Financial

• Healthcare

• Education

• Trading

• BPO or Outsourcing

• Information Technology

5. Manufacturing & Skill/Productivity Enhancement

• Increase productivity of manufacturing units

• Enhance transparency and professionalism

• Concentrate on units that generate large scale employment and value to the nation across urban, semi-urban and rural areas

• Vocational training to increase skilled manpower for domestic industry and labor export

• Promotion of Small Businesses in rural and semi urban areas

• Develop handicraft and traditional industries

Whilst there are a multitude of areas in our economy, the above five areas are Nepal’s core areas of competency and the areas that we need to focus the efforts, energy and resources of the Nepal Business Forum.

Though many criteria can be used to form the NBF Committees, the most effective way may be to focus on the areas of the country’s core strengths or competencies and form the NBF Committees around these.

NBF Committees:

Specific NBF Committees

• Agriculture

Sub-Committees

• Agricultural productivity enhancement

• Cooperative farming

• Agricultural land reform

• Herbs and jungle products development

Tourism

Sub-Committees

• Hotels & Lodges
• Restaurants, Clubs and Pubs
• Travel Agency & Tour Operators
• Trekking
• Mountaineering
• Adventure sports & value added activities
• Associated supply chain industries

Infrastructure

Sub-Committees

• Hydro Power

• Cement

• Civil Aviation

• Road connectivity & Transportation

• Irrigation

Services Sector

Sub-Committees

• Financial

• Trading

• Education

• Healthcare

• Information Technology

• BPO or Outsourcing

Manufacturing & Skill/Productivity Enhancement

Sub-Committees

• Large manufacturing industries – Areas of competitive advantage

• Vocational training – Labor skill development for domestic and foreign employment

• Small Industries

• Handicraft & traditional industries

In addition to the above specific NBF Committees to look into the focus areas of the economy, there will also have to be a set of overview NBF Committees that look into areas that concern all sectors of the economy. In addition to area specific government and private/public sector experts, at least one if not both the Co-Chairs of each of the Specific NBF Committees will be Members of each of the Overview NBF Committees.

Overview NBF Committees

Labor Committee

• Sub-Committees

• Labor Act

• Labor relations & Unions

Security Committee

Sub-Committees

• Physical security

• Taxation Committee

• Sub-Committees

• Tax Act & Laws

• Tax net enhancement

• Tax evasion prevention

The Specific NBF Committees and Overview NBF Committees listed above need to be discussed and deliberated upon with a larger group, maybe at the Cabinet level or even with the major political parties, to finalize the NBF Committees as these Committees will determine the focus, thrust and resource allocation of the government.

Modus Operandi

The manner in which the Nepal Business Forum will operate is like a reverse pyramid, in which the largest number of people and volume of work will be done at the NBF Committee and Sub-Committee level. The issues will be brainstormed and discussed in detail in those committees and sub-committees and then put forth in a structured manner to the NBF Executive Committee for further discussions, amendments and most importantly prioritization for putting to the NBF National Steering Committee or the Cabinet for approval and implementation.

The NBF Sub-Committees and then the NBF Committees will take up all the issues (both challenges and opportunities) faced by that respective area of the economy. They will hold in-depth discussions and deliberations ensuring that they cover all aspects of the issue looking through the cross-section of the nation - urban, semi-urban and rural. They will themselves prioritize issues, both challenges and opportunities, and then move forward with the ones highest on their respective priority list. Each of the NBF Committees/Sub-Committees will have to not only identify the issue (whether it is a challenge that needs to be overcome or an opportunity that needs to be capitalized upon), but will have to put forth a detailed action plan to implement their recommendation on the issue. The more detailed the proposed action/implementation plan the greater the chance of success. A standardized template will be designed and provided to all the NBF Committees so that the issues put forth for action are presented in a format that is uniform across NBF Committees. Each NBF Committee/Sub-Committee will decide amongst themselves who will be the Co-Chairs. The NBF Member Secretary will provide a Secretary for each of the Committees to record discussions and maintain records. It is up to the NBF Committees/Sub-Committees to determine how often they need to meet.

The Co-Chairs of the NBF Committee will bring up issues that have been discussed, agreed and a template completed on, to the NBF Executive Committee. The NBFEC will discuss all the issues brought from all the NBF Committees, send back to the NBF Committee with their views to make changes if/when needed, and prioritize what will be put up either to the Cabinet or at the next NBF National Steering Committee Meeting. The NBF Member Secretary will be the Secretary for the NBFEC meeting. The NBFEC will meet at least once a month and may meet more than that if required.

The NBF National Steering Committee meeting if possible will be held quarterly, otherwise at least once every six months. All issues put on the Agenda by the NBFEC will be presented by the respective NBF Committee Chairs for deliberation. If/when deemed necessary, issues can be sent back for further discussions and amendments at the NBF Committee level through the NBFEC. Issues that are approved will clearly have the action points of implementation stated in the presentation and the same will commence as stipulated therein.

Way Forward

If we want to bring about a change in the economic map of Nepal over the next ten years, as the political map has been changed, then it is vital that there is a change in the way we formulate and implement economic policy. The Nepal Business Forum approach is one that can be quickly formulated and implemented giving quick results up-front to create positive momentum and also build an institutional structure around which to formulate, agree and implement economic policies on a long-term sustainable basis for Nepal. It will enable the optimum use of the government, public and private resources in a focused and coordinated manner in order to maximize the utilization of finite resources.

Although there can be debate on the NBF Committees that need to be set-up, it is advisable to have from 5 to 10 such Committees and not more, as the focus will be lost and the suggested 5 Specific NBF Committees are: Agriculture, Tourism, Infrastructure, Service Sector, and Manufacturing & Skill/Productivity Enhancement, and in addition to the same, three Overview Committees are proposed on Labour, Security and Taxation. A total of 8 NBF Committees is initially proposed.

After deliberation and agreement on the role, responsibility, structure and processes of the Nepal Business Forum, the Prime Minister as the Chairperson of the Nepal Business Forum will need to table the same at the Cabinet and approve it.

Following that the Member Secretary of the Nepal Business Forum needs to be appointed and a suitable office space for the same allocated (If possible in the Finance Ministry or Planning Commission).

That will be followed by the task of identifying and nominating Members of the NBF Committees. Member lists can be formulated by the Vice Chairperson and Member Secretary of the NBF in an inclusive consultative manner with related ministries and the private sector. These members are not permanent and can be changed as and when deemed needed.

Once the initial Members of the NBF Committees are identified, the Chairperson will formally call the first meeting of the Nepal Business Forum in which the Chairperson will lay out the strategy and objectives of the NBF. The Vice Chairperson will explain the processes the NBF will follow and the Member Secretary will present the manner of operation of the NBF. With this, the NBF Committees will be officially formed. Each NBF Committee will be given their respective mandates and the work of the Nepal Business Forum will commence. 

(Shah is the CEO of Nabil Bank)