'Nepal needs investment to reform export'

Kathmandu, Oct. 9: Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dipak Kumar Shah said that Nepal can't reform its export sector without increasing both domestic and foreign investment. 

"To reform the export sector, we need to reduce the cost of production and improve productivity, establish an effective product certification system and implement digital upgrade in the entire system," he said while speaking at an event on 'European  Union-India Free Trade Agreement's impact on key sectors in Nepal' organised by the European Economic Chamber (EEC) – Nepal in Kathmandu on Thursday. 

According to him, Nepal needs to make investment easier, faster, and more attractive, from approval to implementation and from production to export.  He also emphasised a mutual recognition arrangement between Nepal and the EU, so that a product tested in Nepal is accepted in Europe.  Stating that paperless border trade in Nepal is only around 33 per cent compared with about 94 per cent in India, Minister Shah said, "The question is not how we protect Nepal from this free trade agreement. The question is how we prepare Nepal to benefit from the new economic architecture created by this EU-India FTA." 

According to him, if Nepal can establish appropriate rules of origin, diagonal cumulation, and an efficient border crossing mechanism, Nepal can become a meaningful partner in India and EU collaboration.  He said that if Nepal is to access the EU market, it must have global-standard quality certification, reliable delivery, and strong rules for intellectual property and geographical identity. He further said that the GSP+ should be treated as a project not a policy, requiring rectification of around 30 international conventions, an action plan and enhanced monitoring, while stressing stronger cooperation among the government, European business committees and EEC-Nepal. 

Minister Shah presented clean renewable energy and tourism as the sector with strategic advantage for Nepal.