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Kathmandu Monday October 15, 2001 Ashwin 29, 2058.
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Concessions required to bridge
trade gap
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Oct 14 – Royal Nepalese
Ambassador to India Dr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa today said that existing distortions in the
Nepal-India bilateral trade must be eliminated.
He said that the present problems would not have
arisen had the concerned parties taken appropriate steps on time, indicating the current
squabble between Nepal and India over the renewal of the Nepal-India Trade Treaty of 1996,
which is set to expire this December.
India had recently proposed for the Treaty
renewal citing reasons like surge and re-export of third country goods from Nepal to India
without substantial value addition.
"Nepal had to be serious about the problems
right from the beginning when the Indian concerns were first raised more than one and half
years back, but has shown seriousness only lately," Dr Thapa said. He was speaking at
an interaction on Nepal-India Trade Treaty, organised by the Federation of Nepalese
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Sunday.
"There is a need to settle the current
issues in a manner that would lead Nepali trade to a healthy direction", he added.
There is a lack of transparency in government
functioning, intellectual thinking and in commitment, and there is delay in reaction.
"The need of the hour is change. Nepal should move in the same direction the world is
moving," he said.
Economist Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said that
current focus of Nepal is on trade imbalance that is heavily in India’s favour.
"Nepal needs concessions to balance bilateral."
There is a need to tap the potential areas that
can contribute to increase exports to India, which will help in reducing the trade gap.
"The thrust should be on exploiting the areas of comparative advantages," he
said.
Economist Dr Bishowmbher Pyakurel said that time
has come to settle the existing trade-related differences between Nepal and India at the
political level. "Political leaders should show the same seriousness as they showed
in the case of Maoists," he said.
"Seven textile industries in Nepal have
closed down and nine others are on the verge of collapse due to imports from India. The
government must be able to strongly raise such issues with the Indian side", he
demanded.
Stressing on fair trade practices, Dr Mohan Man
Sainju said that the Treaty must be renewed in a way that would prove beneficial to both
Nepal and India in the long run.
First vice president of FNCCI Binod Bahadur
Shrestha said that the Treaty should be revised keeping in view not just the next five
years, but an additional vision of five more years. He also urged the two governments to
agree to induce changes in the Treaty as per the recommendations made by the Joint
Economic Council of the FNCCI and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, immediate past president
of FNCCI, accused the government of giving less importance to trade. "The government
is engrossed with political agendas and ignoring economic issues."
If the new Treaty curtails export of some Nepali
items, industries manufacturing the items will close down, jeopardising huge investment.
"The repercussion of curtailing exports may even be on the banking sector that has
huge amount of investment in some industries, whose exports to India have lately become
the topic of contention," he said.
Industrialist Diwakar Golchha said that some of
the issues raised by the Indian side is genuine, but not all. Many complaints made by
India are exaggerated, but the Treaty should be renewed in a manner that would ensure a
win-win situation, he said.
Economist, industrialists and representatives of
different organisations also participated in the interaction.
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