Kathmandu, Feb. 15
Nepali
Congress has drawn attention of the government to the limited operation of the Rasuwagadhi
border point and troubles faced by the Nepali traders.
Issuing
a statement on Sunday, the main opposition party demanded that the government
hold dialogue with the Chinese side to sort out the problems dogging both
importers and exporters.
China
had shut the borders in the wake of coronavirus breakout in Wuhan from January
last year. The two border points – Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani – which were closed
for more than six months since then, partially reopened to allow only 5-10
container trucks in a day.
"Shutting
the border in the initial days of the pandemic was a need of the time, but the
limited entry of containers has seriously affected Nepali traders. Therefore,
NC draws the attention of the government to the problem," said NC
Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma in the statement.
The
borders were partially reopened from August last year. At the moment, more than
1500 containers are stranded across the border.
Nepali
traders had long been demanding from China and Nepal governments to facilitate
in bringing in the goods stuck on the other side of the border. Nepal Chamber
of Commerce, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries and
other exporters’ and importers’ associations in the past had urged the
government to find solution to the problem a number of times.
The
government had last month asked the FNCCI's Export Promotion Committee about
details of the goods stranded across Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani borders. But
there has been little progress on allowing more containers or facilitating the
import and export from these points.
Although
there was limited import from the northern border points, export was nil. Irked
by the prolonged troubles faced by the traders, Minister for Industry, Commerce
and Supply Lekha Raj Bhatta said a couple of weeks ago that the trade relations
with China need to be reviewed and revised.
No comments:
Post a Comment