A significant number of investors from Switzerland are coming to Nepal for the investment conference to be held in April, this year.

In a courtesy call with Finance Minister Barsaman Pun on Thursday, Ambassador of Switzerland to Nepal, Danielle Meuwly, said that Switzerland would provide all kinds of support to make the investment conference a success.

She said that the private sector of Switzerland is willing to invest in Nepal citing that the Embassy has urged the private sector of Switzerland to participate in the investment conference of Nepal.

"As the investment environment is gradually improving in Nepal, we have asked our private sector industrialists to bring investment to Nepal," she said, adding that Swiss businessmen would participate enthusiastically in the investment conference.

According to the Ministry of Finance, she informed that a 'Joint Mission for Financial Development’ is coming to Nepal next week to identify the potential sectors for investment.

The mission team is scheduled to hold discussions with government officials as well as representatives of Nepal's private sector.

Ambassador Danielle said that a delegation from Swiss Global Enterprises is also preparing to come to Nepal on August 23. She said that the team wants to cooperate with the private sector of Nepal in the field of import and export.

The Ambassador said that they are interested in Nepal's airport management because they have good experience in this field.

She urged Minister Pun to speed up the work of the Swiss project on trial base tourism and revenue mobilisation pipeline in the municipalities of Koshi Province on behalf of the Ministry.

On the occasion, Minister Pun said that Switzerland is one of the oldest development partners of Nepal and expressed his belief that the relationship would improve even in the future.

Minister Pun asked investors from Switzerland to invest in the fields of mountain tourism, energy and technology.

Thanking for the commitment of significant participation in the investment conference, he said that the government wanted to work on amending the law by the Parliament to create an investment environment before the investment conference.

He committed that the government would not only create an investment environment legally and practically, but also guarantee investment security.

“I will work with representatives of the private sector to create a reliable investment environment and guarantee investment security. The government is committed to protect investment," he said, "because I handled Finance Ministry 12 years ago, the private sector also has faith and trust in me."

He expressed his belief that he would be able to face the challenges of the economy in coordination with donor agencies.

He asked Ambassador Danielle Meuwly to convey the message to the international community that Nepal is gradually becoming an investment-friendly environment.

Peace fund to be managed in the upcoming budget

In the meeting with the Ambassador, Finance Minister Pun said that the rest of the work related to transitional justice would be completed in the next fiscal year 20224/25.

He said that the international community was also aware of the fact that he had been involved in transitional justice work for more than 15 years.

He asked the Swiss government through Ambassador Danielle Meuwly to help in this, citing that he was going to arrange a peace fund for the compensation to be provided for the victims along with transitional justice.

“We have proposed cooperation with various countries, including America and United Kingdom. There has been a positive response from all over. We expect that the Swiss government will also provide significant support towards this end,” he said.