The 13th edition of the Ratnanagar Festival, organized by the Ratnanagar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has begun at Tikaulichaur in Ratnanagar, East Chitwan, from Friday.

The festival was inaugurated by Anjan Shrestha, Senior Vice President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry. A procession was taken out in the morning before the inauguration in the presence of 125 organizations.

Special priority has been given to the production and marketing of honey in the festival, which will run until Magh 6. A separate premises has been constructed for the production and promotion of honey. The association's president, Shankar Giri, informed that the aim is to make the economic activities of Chitwan as a whole dynamic by giving special emphasis to agriculture, tourism, art-culture and trade.

This time, more than four lakh visitors will watch the festival and the turnover is estimated to be over Rs 250 million, said Anil Krishna Shrestha, coordinator of the economic committee.

Bhajan, conch shelling, women's kabaddi and inter-school level dance competitions will be held under the festival. Kashmir Valley has been built in the children's park targeting children.

Motorboats and jeep safaris in community forests have been operated in Khageri River to promote tourism. The festival will also feature stalls of cloth made from garlic and hemp. There are about 500 stalls of national and international level at the festival.

Similarly, the festival will feature exhibitions of industry, trade, agricultural products, local art and culture and tourism materials, and programs to protect and promote indigenous crops with the slogan 'Never forget the taste of your ancestors, preserve indigenous culture and traditional memory', according to the organizers.

As part of the festival, the 'Sixth Ratnanagar Cultural Food Festival' has been organized at the Bus Park in Sauraha Chowk from Poush 29 to Magh 4.

The food festival was organized to revitalize the toddy market and promote local food dishes, informed Gyan Bahadur Bisural, former president and coordinator of the association.

Giving special priority to the agricultural sector, the festival has prioritized the display and marketing of bananas, fish, mushrooms, dairy products, poultry, honey and indigenous crops in a large agricultural technology exhibition, said Raghunath Bhatta, coordinator of the Agriculture Promotion Committee.

The festival, which is under the patronage of Ratnanagar Municipality, has taken forward issues such as the construction of a grand gate in the shape of the Ram Janaki Temple, a beautiful village for the tribal community, and a job fair to solve the unemployment problem, said Giri, president of the association.

The chief guest of the program, Senior Vice President of the association, Shrestha, said that Nepal's economy is in a challenging situation. 'The country's economy is in a challenging situation,' he said, 'To end this situation, the state should create an investment environment for the private sector.' He said that there is a need to change the way we look at, understand and think about the private sector, which is an important part of the country's economy.