Shrestha elected President of American Chamber of Commerce Nepal

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Dec. 11: Nirmal Kajee Shrestha has been elected the president of the American Chambers of Commerce Nepal (AmCham), an umbrella organisation of businesses operated in Nepal with American investment.

With the completion of the two-year term of the founding President Ajit Bikram Shah, the second Annual General Meeting of AmCham held on Sunday in Kathmandu unanimously elected a new working committee under the leadership of Shrestha, who is the Chief Executive Officer of MetLife, American Life Insurance Company Nepal.

An upcoming meeting of the AmCham Board of Directors will nominate the vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer. Likewise, other members elected to the working committee include Kailash Raj Bijayananda of Leapfrog Technology, Ashim Man Singh Basnyat of Pathao Nepal, Aakash Golchha of Go Ford, Manish Thapa of Laxmi Sunrise Bank Limited, Samarth Mogha of Mogha Energy and Sneh Rajbhandari of Bottlers Nepal Limited. 

The organisation has nominated Shah as an Honourary Member of the Board as the Founding Chairman. Likewise, Semanta Dahal of Abhinav Law Chambers will also be included in the working committee as an Honourary Member. 

Shrestha said that he has energetic officials and members in the leadership team and will work to promote organisational as well as business interests. "Necessary initiatives will be taken to bring in foreign investments with priority in energy, tourism and information technology sectors. We will organise and participate in various conferences related to investment and enterprise in Nepal and other countries so that we could promote Nepal as an investment destination in those markets," he said. 

Nepal's AmCham is the 130th in the global network of the American Chamber of Commerce and is considered instrumental in promoting trade with the USA and inviting investment from there. The establishment of AmCham was aimed at organising scattered businesses and entrepreneurs. During the two-year tenure of the founder president Shah, 45 businesses have joined the organisations so far. 

Likewise, within two years of its establishment, AmCham obtained accreditation from the American Chamber of Commerce of the USA. This is an important achievement of Shah's tenure, and it has further increased the possibility of American investment in Nepal, said AmCham. 

Similarly, AmCham has been conducting a 'Membership Learning Series' to promote the business of entrepreneurs associated with the organisation which has provided an opportunity to network, fellowship and closely understand each other's business and collaborate among them.