Kathmandu, Nov. 19
The Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC)
has urged the newly appointed Ambassador to India, Shankar Sharma, to
facilitate Nepal-India trade and attract investment in Nepal. During a meeting
held on Tuesday at the NCC building in Kathmandu, Chamber President Kamlesh
Kumar Agrawal said that despite Nepal adopting a free and open trade policy
with India, the country is yet to see practical benefits.
Agrawal stated that while imports from
India generally face few hurdles, exports encounter difficulties, especially at
customs, where smooth facilitation is lacking. The Chamber also suggested to Ambassador
Sharma that promoting tourism and attracting investment could help reduce
Nepal's trade deficit with India. Agrawal also emphasised the need to attract
Indian investment, particularly in the hydropower and service sectors, to
address the growing trade imbalance.
The NCC urged Ambassador Sharma to
work on improving railway transportation and to establish an
international-standard quarantine lab at customs checkpoints to ease the
cross-border trade with India.
Agrawal also drew attention to the
lack of a high-quality quarantine lab, which hampers the ability to assess the
quality of goods imported from and exported to India.
“Export facilitation should be prioritised to
secure long-term trade benefits in India. Effective measures must also be taken
for the operation of railways and waterways,” Agrawal stated.
Chamber officials made complaints
about the difficulties faced by Nepali traders at Visakhapatnam Port, Odisha’s
Dhamra Port, and Gujarat’s Mundra Port. They complained that containers
carrying Nepali goods often experience long delays, increasing costs, and urged
better transit arrangements.
In response, Ambassador Sharma
expressed his commitment to prioritising the reduction of the trade deficit and
the facilitation of exports. He also pledged to take steps towards establishing
a quarantine lab and emphasised his efforts to attract investment through
enhanced collaboration between the private sectors of Nepal and India.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 November 2024.
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