Nepal, Oct. 16 -- In the very first page of the first chapter of Nepal 2043: The Road to Prosperity are two maps. The first places Nepal right at the epicentre of Asia, and in the second the Kathmandu is at exactly the midpoint between Mumbai and Beijing.

With his trademark optimism, author Sujeev Shakya says Nepal is not land-locked but land-linked to three billion people in China and India. We just need those two economic engines to pull us in the same direction.

'With China and India becoming the two largest economies in the world in the next two decades ... Nepal is the most valuable piece of real estate in the world,' Shakya writes.

For one thing, Nepal does not look beyond India and China for tourism - with the right policies it ...