Duty-free access to Nepali products to top agenda
KATHMANDU, JUL 24 -
Nepal will ask Bangladesh to provide duty free access to Nepali products in the commerce secretary-level talks between the two countries scheduled to be held on July 29-30.
Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies said that talk, taking place after a gap of two years, would be an extensive one.
Commerce Secretary Lalmani Joshi said that they would ask the Bangladeshi delegation to provide duty free access to Nepali products as Nepali agriculture products are facing difficulty to enter into Bangladeshi market despite huge demands.
According to him, there is a growing demand of Nepali agriculture products including fruits and vegetables in Bangladeshi market. “However, the exporters have been complaining about high duty,” Joshi said, adding that the Bangladeshi side had shown positive sign during the preparatory talks to entertain Nepali agro products like tomato and lentils without any duty. Lentil has been the biggest exports to Bangladesh for long. Other officials said that both sides would seek access to each other’s markets.
The last meeting had focused on the much-anticipated transport connectivity between the two countries for expediting trade, elimination of tariff barriers on commodities of mutual export interests, and duty-free access to market.
Joshi also said that during the meeting, the Nepali side will ask the Bangladeshi delegates to endorse the transport agreement which was signed in 2006. “As the agreement had envisaged connecting Nepal and Bangladesh through India, there had been delay in the endorsement of the decision from Bangladesh,” he said.
Ministry officials also said that lack of proper connectivity between the two counties is hurting trade and tourism. Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya, joint secretary at the ministry, said that other agendas in the meeting would be the infrastructure development in the border points of both of the countries, visa on arrival for the Nepalis. “The exporters and traders are facing hurdles due to the poor infrastructure facility,” he said, “We will discuss on building quarantine, cold storage and store house, among others in the border points,” he said.
The other key points in the discussion are full-fledged operation of Kakarbhitta-Panitanki-Phulbari-Banglabandh corridor and allowing Nepali trucks up to the Banglabandh land port. “Keeping in view the expansion and promotion of bilateral trade, we will also discuss on other necessary agendas,” said Upadhya.
The Bangladeshi Commerce Secretary will lead six-member delegates, while Joshi will lead 14-15 member delegates during the meeting. During 2010-11, Nepal had exported goods worth Rs 3.47 billion to Bangladesh and had imported goods worth Rs 1.10 billion.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
