India looks at Nepal as biotech investment opportunity

Indian entrepreneurs are willing to invest both capital and technology for setting up of biotech based industries in Nepal, the country's Ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad said yesterday.

"Bio-technology can be a part of the growing bilateral development partnership between India and Nepal," the ambassador told the Times of India.

The unique biodiversity of Nepal and its favorable climate as well as large labor pool make it an ideal location for establishing high-quality, cutting-edge biotech industries, Prasad said at the Nepal-India Natural Products Conference in Kathmandu.

"There is the need for an enabling environment, peace, stability, predictability in investment policies, and Nepali technologists and entrepreneurs as partners, to make a success of these ventures," he said.

Nepal is home to more than 10,000 species of plants, including 500 indigenous species.