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Talks For Trade Promotions
By KTM Metro Reporter
September 23, 2013: Nepal has not held any bilateral talks with its top three trade partners for almost two years, hampering chances of boosting up international trade, said experts in the trade yesterday, according to the Xinhua news posted on the English.news.com.cn.
"Lack of internal preparation, priority to political agenda than to economic agenda and unstable government are the major factors behind Nepal not engaging in bilateral talks with its trading partners," Purushottam Ojha, a former secretary of commerce, told Xinhua.
For example, Nepal has not held talks with India on trade since December 2011, with the U.S. officials since April 2011, and with Bangladesh since July 2012.
India is the largest trade partner of Nepal. Nepal exports 500 million U.S. dollars worth of goods to India. The second largest trade partner is the USA that imports 50 million U.S. dollars worth of goods from Nepal, and finally Bangladesh is the third largest trade partner that imports 25 million U.S. dollars worth of goods from Nepal.
The government officials say that they are holding regular trade talks with the key trade partners. "We are undergoing internal preparation to hold IGC meeting with India soon," said Jibraj Koirala, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, adding that similar meeting will be held with the United States and Bangladesh, too.
