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Kathmandu Thursday July 20, 2000 Sharawan 05, 2057.
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Trans-Himalayan trade comes to complete halt
By a Post Reporter
TATOPANI,
July 19 - The Trans-Himalayan trade has come to a complete halt following the government's
enforcement to channel the trade through banking system, as per the last budgetary
announcement.
Import
from Tatopani Customs, the main gateway for the Trans-Himalayan trade, has remained
standstill since July 16, which marks the beginning of the new fiscal year. The budgetary
provision came into force the same day.
The
trade with Tibet began some five hundred years ago but withstood all the evolution of
modern trade practices and was heretofore, based mainly on barter system. Besides revenue
leakage, the flood of cheap and illegal import posed serious challenge to domestic
industries. The government decided to channel the trade through banking system following a
mounting pressure especially from the local industries.
However,
Trans-Himalayan Trade Association had objected the provision from the very first day of
its announcement, saying it was impractical and favored the interest of a few big
importers. They had requested the government to backtrack the decision, "because it
could displace the small importers."
Opening
Letter of Credit (LC) is totally new to the businessmen involved in the trade with their
northern neighbor, says Nil Kantha Chaulagain, Vice Chairman of the Association.
Government should help them understand the procedure of trading through bank and assure
them such trading will be free of hassles.
Bharat
Prasad Subedi, Chief at the Tatopani Customs says the confusion is only transitional and
it will be over within a few days. Once they become accustomed to the new system, they
will find no reason to shy away from it, says he.
Subedi
also informed that special arrangements have been made to address the problem of the small
importers. Such businessmen who confine their business within 30 kilometers of the border
and import goods worth less than sixteen thousands rupees can bypass the banking channel.
Over
one thousand businessmen are involved in the import-export trade with Tibet, the
autonomous region of China. And they contribute over one billion rupees in revenue to the
government coffer.
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