South-South trade promotion programme

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Aug 17: A South-South trade promotion programme will be held in Kathmandu to promote mutual trade between the small and medium entrepreneurs of the South Asian countries. Held jointly by International Trade Centre (ITC), UNCTAD/WTO and ASEAN-CCI, the programme will be participated by China SAARC national and the countries of the ASEAN region.

According to the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, this programme would be helpful in the timely implementation of trade capabilities among the SAARC countries.

The first phase of such a programme was held in Singapore last month and the meeting was participated representatives of the government and business sector of Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, The Philippines and China. The meeting was jointly organised by ITC and ASEAN Chamber, Kishore Kumar Agrawal, secretary of NCC had represented Nepal in the programme.

The meeting had identified the production, export and import of agriculture and agriculture-products as the main priority of the countries, including Nepal. The meeting had decided to discuss on promoting the trade of fruits, pulses, spices and aromatic compounds in its second phase meeting.

The meeting will also select 10 entrepreneurs from each country who will discuss with those of the countries to form a platform for promoting trade.