KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, held a meeting today to discuss various aspects of bilateral cooperation.
The meeting, which took place at the Ministry of Finance in Singha Durbar, focused on several key issues, including bilateral economic cooperation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the effective implementation of projects under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), development finance mobilization, and private sector investment, among others.
“Discussions covered a wide range of cooperation between Nepal and the United States. Talks focused particularly on the implementation of MCC and USAID-funded projects,” said Dhaniram Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance.
Sharma added that during the meeting, the U.S. official expressed interest in exploring ways to enhance and expand investment from the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) in Nepal.
He also raised the possibility of increasing capital flows to support private sector development in the country.
“In this regard, we reiterated the government’s commitment to facilitating and encouraging private sector investment,” Sharma further noted.
Finance Minister Paudel emphasized that economic development is Nepal’s top priority, especially with the current political stability in the country. He urged Assistant Secretary Lu to further expand U.S. assistance to support this objective.
Assistant Secretary Lu, on his part, praised Nepal for maintaining economic growth and stability amidst challenges faced by some South Asian countries.
He expressed satisfaction with Nepal’s progress and assured that the United States would continue to provide additional economic assistance in the future.
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