Nepal Investment Summit 2017 was a grand success. The event held in Kathmandu for the first time since the early 1990s saw the participation of around 775 delegates, including around 285 foreign investors, from over 20 countries. This time around, the KP Sharma Oli government is all set to host a new edition of the investment summit, showcasing dozens of projects to hundreds of international investors. The government aims to woo investors by presenting $30 billion worth of potential projects to plug the country’s infrastructure funding gap.

The investment summit organised in March 2017 too had ended on a high note, drawing investment commitments worth $13.5 billion from six countries. But when it came to realisation, only a fraction of the pledges trickled in. Learning a lesson from their past mistakes, the authorities concerned introduced new legislation as part of the effort to bring about reforms and facilitate foreign direct investment. But the real concern still is if this summit will be any different or be limited to a flashy event with mere photo-ops.

It has long been our tendency to organise events and forget about them immediately. The commitments made during such meets are hardly followed up. Hence, things seldom move forward. It is not just about hosting an event but about creating a globally competitive and conducive micro and macro economic environment so that international businesses will have the confidence to invest in the country. To this end, three vital pieces of legislation have been amended—Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, Public Private Partnership and Investment Act and Special Economic Zone Act—to simplify the process for foreign investment. This is a step in the right direction. But the amendments to the laws were expedited days ahead of the summit. A much more mature approach would have been to deliberate the matter with the stakeholders concerned and then amend the laws following a thorough process.

A protracted period of political instability had deeply hurt our economic aspirations. It deterred foreign investors from investing in the country too. According to the World Bank’s Systematic Country Diagnostic report, Nepal’s growth was much lower than that of other economies in the region during the last 20 years, growing at an average rate of 4 percent annually. Come today, there is a stable government that is mandated to rule for five years. What’s more, prosperity and stability were its main planks. But still, the stock market is on a bearish run and the banking sector is grappling with a liquidity crisis. These do not help to create a favourable environment for investment.

Political stability alone will not guarantee foreign direct investment. Raising the inflow of foreign investment into the country is contingent on the governance and political will to translate commitments into action. The authorities must pay heed to these things.