EU-Nepal TIP organises workshop for trade officials

Kathmandu, May 23

The European Union-funded EU-Nepal Trade and Investment Programme (TIP) is organising a workshop for trade officials of the Government of Nepal to enhance the capacity of officials of trade-related government agencies for trade policy-making, implementation, and negotiations.

The ‘Introductory Training Programme on International Trade and Trade Policy’ that kicked off in Lalitpur the other day is the first in a series of planned trade-related skill-enhancement workshops for Nepali officials under the EU-Nepal TIP’s support.

The Centre for WTO Studies (CWS), Centre for Research in International Trade (CRIT), and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) are supporting the training.

According to the TIP, 26 government officials, including seven female officers, are taking part in the five-day workshop. Officials representing the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, National Bureau of Standards and Metrology, Nepal Rastra Bank, National Planning Commission, Nepal Administrative Staff College, among others are attending the workshop.

The workshop aims at upskilling Nepali trade negotiators and policymakers to ensure their effective participation in the WTO meetings, WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism and multilateral/bilateral trade negotiations. It also has an objective to enhance the understanding of key trade issues among concerned officials.

Agenda of the training are international trade and WTO from Nepal’s perspective, WTO Agreement on Agriculture, WTO Agreement on Agriculture Domestic support, WTO and food Security, WTO Agreement on Agriculture-market access and export competition, and the trade-related data and market analysis.

Similarly, World Integrated Trade Solution and Trade Data of Nepal, analysis of trade trends, Nepal’s WTO commitments, WTO dispute settlement mechanism, Least Developed Country (LDC) graduation-related issues, trade facilitation in services and global value-chains, stakeholder consultation and Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights are also among the topics of the workshop.

Gobinda Bahadur Karkee, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, said that an international-level workshop like this would help enhance the trade negotiation capacities of Nepali trade officials at a time when challenges and opportunities exist in international trade. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 24 May 2023.