For Effective Media

MINISTER for Information and Communications Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta said that His Majesty’s Government was committed to make the official media more effective, impartial and credible. Answering the queries raised by lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Lower House of parliament, Minister Gupta informed that the Ministry of Information and Communication was working out a long-term plan of action pertaining to information and communication sector. He also highlighted the activities carried out by His Majesty’s Government for the development of communication sector in Nepal. It is beyond any shade of doubt that communication sector has made relatively more progress than any other fields in the recent years. In the wake of global revolution in the field of information and communication, Nepal has made some serious and significant efforts to benefit from the advancement of information technology. After the restoration of democracy 11 years ago, Nepal has adopted open and liberal policy in every sector including information and communication. In view of the strong and effective role of television, the government has made efforts to enhance the quality and reach of the Nepal Television. It was only recently that Nepal Television was hooked with satellite in order to make its reach wider. Efforts are also being made to build necessary technical infrastructure and back up to make the NTV programmes more qualitative. As a part of these efforts, preparations have already been made to start a metro channel of Nepal Television and also a second channel of Radio Nepal. Under the open and liberal policy, the government has granted licenses to different private companies to run FM radios. Likewise, there has been significant development in the telecommunication and the Internet sector as well. In fact, Nepal’s telecommunication sector is one of the best in South Asia. Breaking government monopoly, the private sector has been encouraged to invest in communication sector. As a result, some private companies have shown interest in it. It was the private sector that introduced and developed Internet and email services in Nepal. As said by Minister Gupta, Nepal has made a good and encouraging progress in the field of information and communication. However, there is still a lot of room for more progress and improvement. The government is seeking more private sector investment in this field. For this, policies and legal provisions have been made very relaxed to attract more investment so that Nepal’s communication sector would make further progress and development in future.

For Better Treaty

ONLY the most biased would fail to see that the present Nepal-India trade treaty, in force since 1996, has had a positive impact on the trade relations between the two neighbours. That is not to say that the treaty does not have room for improvement or that all its existing good provisions have been implemented in both letter and spirit. Nepalese industrialists and traders exporting goods to India have had to face some barriers on the other side as the volume of Nepalese exports recorded an appreciable rise, thanks to some good quality Nepalese products that became a hit with Indian consumers. The exports could rise further in absence of hurdles. From the Indian perspective, as expected, the always rising Indian exports to Nepal continued to rise over these past years. So, on the whole, though there were some practical problems on the ground, the trade treaty has made a positive difference to the trade ties between the two countries. The treaty is up for renewal in the next few months. The outstanding issues in the trade relations are expected to be thrashed out in the talks that should lead to the treaty renewal. Who would know these issues better than Nepalese and Indian businessmen and traders?

Therefore, it was a good move on the part of the captains of commerce and industries from Nepal and India to brainstorm on the sticking points and come up with significant recommendations on how to resolve them. Obviously after much homework the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) have agreed on how the coming trade treaty negotiations should be approached. Working through an FNCCI-CII Joint Economic Council, the two sides have made a number of joint recommendations which were presented to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Thursday. Though the government presumably has its own preparatory work going on at present in the run-up to the talks, it is well advised to listen to what this joint group of businessmen and traders are saying. One major demand of the Nepalese side that the treaty should be automatically renewed has been supported by the joint council. Quite rightly, another recommendation stresses on the continuation of facilities being provided to the export of products from small scale industries. Yet another important joint recommendation is the one calling for scraping the value addition test. The two sides apparently have also agreed on how to approach the issue of 30 per cent value addition. Needless to say, all these suggestions should be given the utmost, serious consideration by both the Nepalese and Indian governments when they sit for talks to make the treaty hopefully even better.