Access to Market

A smallish country of 23.21 million people, Nepal is situated between what are potentially the two largest markets in the world: China and India. A trade treaty with India guarantees duty-free access to most Nepali manufactures. As a least developed country, Nepal is also eligible for the benefits of the Every-thlng-Btft-At'ms ftiiGAtiVe Of fife ' European Vnfdh', offering its'prod-ucts preferential access to the European market.

Natural Assets

Tburism is the biggest business in the world and there is hardly a country that does not seek either tourists, of investment in tourism. Uniquely, Nepal offers some of the most spectacular tourist attractions in the world: 8 of the world's 10 highest mountain peaks, including the top of the world, Mount Everest; an extraordinary range of climatic conditions ranging from the subarctic to the tropical and a corresponding range of flora and fauna, from the snow leopard to the rhino;

a rich cultural heritage, from ihe birthplace of the Buddha trough medieval Hindu temples to 70 spoken languages from several language families. Nepal also offers enormous potential for hydropower and a remarkable variety of agricultural products in the five climatic zones packed into a north-south breadth ofl50-250kilometers.

Policies and People

"fiends are what matter most to investors when it comes to the policy regime and here Nepal's record speaks for itself. Tariff slabs fell from over 100 in the 1980s to just 5 in the 1990s and rates went down: the foreign-exchange regime was liberalized, with the Nepali rupee becoming fully convertible on the current account; and area and percentage restrictions on FDI were reduced. Much remains to be done, but the movement is clearly in the right direction. Policies, of course, are implemented by people. Investors in Nepal value the accessibility of the bureaucracy, and the part of it that deals most specifically with investors.