Include economic agenda in election manifestos: FNCCI

WITH major political parties preparing themselves for the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, the private sector has also begun lobbying to get its agendas included in the parties’ election manifestos. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has begun interactions with major political parties for the first time to ensure that the “common economic agenda” is included in their manifestos. On Sunday, the FNCCI invited Nepali Congress (NC) leaders to seek their commitment for the same. NC President Sushil Koirala, senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and leaders Ram Sharan Mahat and Chitralekha Yadav visited the FNCCI office in Teku, Kathmandu, and expressed their party’s commitment to the inclusion of the economic agendas suggested by the FNCCI in its election manifesto. Stating that the NC had always been focused on the development of the industrial sector, Koirala pledged to take the private sector together. “The disappointing state of the economy is the reflection of the country’s degraded politics,” said Koirala during the interaction. “The lack of a conducive political environment has worsened the business environment too.” As the major thrust of politics is the promotion of democracy and economic development, the NC will give top priority to the economic agendas during the upcoming election, Koirala said. Mahat said all parties should not be put into the same basket. “In the last seven years, the NC never organised any closures and strikes keeping in mind that such activities would derail the business environment,” he said. Mahat highlighted the need for “reviving the spirit” of the early 1990s to promote the private sector and said the private sector should itself identify which party was obstructing the revival of the spirit. “NC is a business- friendly party. We have realised the country will not progress without investment, technology and employment generation by the private sector,” he said. Yadav said NC would not only commit, but implement the agendas. According to FNCCI officials, the business association will continue the interaction with all other political parties. “So far, the FNCCI has been termed ‘a reactive force’,” said FNCCI President Suraj Vaidya. “Now, we would like to establish the FNCCI as a proactive force to promote the economic agenda at the political level.” In a rare gesture of political unity, top leaders of seven political parties had recently expressed their commitment to the country’s hydropower development and decided not to hinder work on any hydel projects. The political parties made the commitment on April 11 at the initiative of FNCCI. “The political parties have committed to promote the economic agendas a number of times in the past,” said a vice president of FNCCI. “This time, we want the commitment to be mentioned in their manifesto.”