The state and private sector should involve in effective participation of non-state actors in implementation of Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS), which is going to be reviewed by mid-2014.

Inaugurating a two-day interaction ‘Non-State Actors in the EIF: Towards a Roadmap’ here today, commerce secretary Narayan Gopal Malego stressed on the public-private partnership for the trade development.

“Government is only a facilitator for the private sector and other concerned stakeholders,” Malego said, adding that they are extending hand to the private sector and civil society. “Trade has wider impact on the national economy and that Nepal will have to boost its export to prevent ever-growing trade deficit.”

President of Nepal Economic Association Prof Dr Bishwambher Pyakuryal, on the occasion, highlighted the need to focus on the product development.

“We are unable to meet quality and quantity according to the demands of third countries,” Pyakuryal said, adding that Nepal also need to conduct homework to break non-tariff barriers created by various importing countries and develop adequate infrastructures. “The first tier programme under which NTIS is being implemented intends to build capacity of implementation units.”

Pyakuryal also revealed that only 16 out of 100 herbal products get certificate for the export. “We need to work hard for quality enhancement and accreditation of Nepali labs,” Pyakuryal said.

The country doesn’t have an internationally accredited lab yet.

Pyakuryal also said that Cambodia and Lao People´s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) are implementing the same model of trade strategy with effective participation of the private sector and other non-state actors.

EIF aims at increasing the participation of non-state actors in the execution of the projects it supports.

NTIS – a trade policy introduced by the government in 2010 with the financial and technical support of Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), a multi-donor programme that supports trade development of least developed countries (LDCs) – includes seven service and 12 products.

Among the three products are Ginger, Pashmina and Medicinal Herbs and Aromatic Plants (MAPS), which are selected for the second tier programme with the support of EIF.

The project was started through joint initiative of World Trade Organisation, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Nepal is only country among the LDCs to get three programmes. Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) officials, private sector entrepreneurs, experts in Nepal Economic Association and CUTS International Geneva with support from EIF project to seek effective means to implement NTIS.

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