It will be a two-day meeting starting March 5, said a senior official at Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS).
During the meeting, the technical teams to be led by commerce joint secretaries of respective countries are scheduled to review the implementation of the bilateral trade treaty. “They will later discuss additional provisions to be included in the protocol of the treaty to enable Nepal to retain special advantages in the Indian market,” said the source.
During the meeting, Nepali side will mainly raise concern over country’s ballooning trade deficit, which crossed over Rs 100 billion in the last fiscal year, and seek special facility from India to fight the problem.
Amid South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) coming into force and India pledging zero-tariff facility to other Least Developed Countries as well, Nepal mired by higher production costs has long tagged the tariff-concessions pledged by India in the bilateral trade treaty as meaningless.
“Our request to India will be to eliminate all non-tariff barriers and support us to lure investments, so that the loss inflicted on our trade is compensated,” said the source.
He further told myrepublica.com that Nepal’s effort has been to formalize assurances coming in this connection by incorporating them as binding provisions in the bilateral treaty. “That alone will lay down a predictable trading environment and assure investors,” he said.
Nepal’s prominent commodities to India have time and again faced problems by changes India effected in standard and quarantine-related arrangements and imposition of state taxes and special additional taxes, which are against the spirit of the bilateral trade treaty.
“The two sides will also hold talks on the harmonization of standards, recognition of each others’ quality certification and additional customs facilitation measures,” said the source. Issues such as incorporating service trade in bilateral treaty, allowing Nepal to use a port in Mumbai for third country trade and easing Nepal-Bangladesh trade through the Indian territory will also be discussed, he added.
The Indian side, on the other hand, is expected to raise concern over deteriorating industrial climate in Nepal, and labor and other problems faced by the Indian firms in Nepal. It is also likely to request Nepal to control illegal trade, particularly smuggling of Chinese goods to India.
milan@myrepublica.com
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