The first EU-Nepal Business Forum that brought together more than 250 participants ended on Tuesday, with proposals to continue regular exchanges to follow up on ideas discussed at the two-day forum. 

Addressing the closing session, Nepal’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal conveyed the government’s commitment to mitigate short-term challenges that could affect businesses from the country’s graduation to a middle-income country. “We look forward to support from Europe to assist us in making a smooth and irreversible graduation,” Rijal said. 

“This was a unique opportunity to show European unity and strength in support of Nepal,” said Nona Deprez, Ambassador, Delegation of the EU in Nepal, who had chaired the closing session. Thomas Prinz, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Nepal proposed having more focused meetings to follow-up to take stock of actual fulfilment of commitments. 

He added that it was important to meet regularly to ensure that the momentum created by the event was not lost. “This has been an excellent platform for sharing information and experiences, and networking,” said Riina-Rikka Heikka, Finnish Ambassador to Nepal, who added that Finland has various tools to support businesses such as the Finn Fund and business matchmaking, Finn Partner.

“There have been many ideas, we see potential in ICT, education, water sanitation, clean tech, agro-bio technology and circular economy,” she said. 

“We need to convene more often on these different themes.” The Austrian Ambassador Katharina Wieser travelled to Nepal with the Austrian trade representative to continue engagement with the Nepali business sector. She said, “The challenge is to continue engagements to resolve challenges identified and secure political commitment to deal with the challenges. “There was broad agreement on what needs to be done, we should continue this exercise.”