HETAUDA: Kush Kumar Joshi has been re-elected the president of National Business Initiative (NBI).

A 25-member Executive Committee (EC) led by President Joshi was elected from the 16th Annual General Assembly of NBI that concluded in Hetauda, Makawanpur, on Sunday.

The newly elected EC of NBI has Sukuntalal Hirachan as vice-president, Surendra Bir Malakar as general secretary, Dipak Malhotra as treasurer, Saroj Prasad Pandey and Suresh Pradhan as secretaries and Binayak Shah as joint treasurer.

Likewise, Umesh Lal Shrestha, Lata Pyakural, Shiva Prasad Ghimire, Ashok Baidya, Rajesh Khadka, Rabindra Mansingh Pradhan, Araniko Rajbhandari, Mukesh Kumar Bhattarai, Ramesh Sharma, Rajesh Babu Shrestha, Dr. Babin Pokhrel, Khem Lakai, Homnath Upadhaya and Sanam Shakya have been elected as members of the newly elected EC.

Similarly, Sudhi Mittal and Dr Rajendra Ghising are nominated members while Nani Raj Ghimire is the ex-officio member of the new Executive Committee.

On the occasion, re-elected President Joshi thanked all for their continued support to help the organization thrive.

Acknowledging challenging times induced by COVID-19, Joshi said despite challenges, the organization had been able to run various programs in cooperation with various national and international agencies for pointing out problems in the business sphere, promoting responsible business practices and increasing the private sector’s involvement in disaster risk reduction.

He added that NBI would prioritize holding Responsible Business Conference in 2023, which could not be held in the previous year, and other programs aimed to fortify disaster preparedness.

Also, presenting NBI’s annual report, General Secretary Malakar apprised that the organization was preparing to hold the Responsible Business Conference in February, 2023.

The 16th general assembly of NBI also endorsed economic and annual reports presented on the occasion.

The general assembly concluded by adopting a resolution to hold a press conference in the near future to make public its detailed plans and programs.

Padma Jyoti is the founding president of NBI that was formed by fourteen major Nepalese business associations and individual companies as an apolitical and non-profit-making organization in 2005.

NBI seeks to strengthen the role and capacity of the Nepal’s private sector to contribute in sustainable peace by mobilizing the existing private sector bodies at local and higher levels, generating new knowledge relating to private sector on softer issues around peace, conflict and development and creating demand as well as support for positive change in the society.