'Nepal should design policy for Fourth Industrial Revolution'

Kathmandu, Apr. 3: Dr. Ratnakar Adhikari, Executive Director of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), on Tuesday said that Nepal should begin to design policy framework for the fourth industrial revolution that is happening now.

Though the developed countries and even neighbours India and China have made significant progress on the latest industrial revolution, which is based on the advancement of information and communication technology, there has been no significant progress in Nepal in this regard, he said while speaking at an interaction organised by Society of Economic Journalists-Nepal (SEJON).

According to him, if the government was ready to work on advanced technology to enhance business and trade, international organisations like EIF were ready to support.

EIF, an Aid for Trade programme for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), is a global partnership between the LDCs, donors and international organisations that support EIF countries to be more active players in the global trading system by helping them tackle supply-side constraints to trade, according to the EIF website.

“The first, second and third industrial revolutions bypassed the LDCs, which resulted in missed opportunities, but it shouldn’t be the same case in terms of the fourth industrial revolution,” said Dr. Adhikari.

The fifth industrial revolution is about harnessing technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, block-chain, robotics, internet, augmented reality and bio-engineering for precise decision-making in the related sectors. It started about eight years ago.

However, Dr. Adhikari cautioned that it will also create some challenges such as breach of privacy and cyber-attack.

Hari Bhakta Sharma, president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), urged the government to support the private sector in technology transfer in order to benefit from the latest technology.

“Nepal does not need any more diagnosis, it needs the therapeutics,” he said.

Commerce Secretary Chandra Kumar Ghimire said that the government was ready to work with the private sector, development partners and other stakeholders in order to facilitate technology transfer and apply modern technologies in the trade and commerce sector.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 4 April 2018.