Additional ministries to be involved in NTIS implementation are: the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agricultural Development and the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation. [break]
Currently, the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) is solely responsible for proposing programs and overseeing implementation of programs under the NTIS.
The NTIS was introduced by the government in 2010 in an effort to boost production and exports of goods and services with high potentiality. So far, 12 goods and seven services have been identified.
Goods included in the NTIS list are black cardamom, ginger, honey, lentils, tea, noodles and medicinal herbs/essential oils, handmade papers, silver jewelry, iron and steel, pashmina and woolen products. Similarly, services under the NTIS comprise tourism, labor, IT and business process outsourcing, health, education, engineering and hydro-electricity.
"Sole effort by the MoCS to promote these goods and services could not yield desired results in the last three years because other ministries failed to take ownership of programs. We are thus involving line ministries in formulation and implementation of programs under the NTIS," Toya Narayan Gyawali, joint secretary at the MoCS, told Republica.
In this regard, the MoCS will now play the role of focal ministry while other concerned ministries will propose separate programs to promote products that fall under their ambit, Gyawali said.
"Dividing responsibilities among line ministries for formulation and implementation of NTIS programs will also pave the way for greater budgetary allocations," said Gyawali.
The government has currently been allocating meager budget of Rs 50 million per year for implementation of NTIS programs. For the coming fiscal year, the MoCS has proposed allocation of Rs 60 million.
The government is also preparing to form a committee comprising representatives of the MoCS and concerned line ministries to implement NTIS programs with proper coordination.
Despite priority being given by the government for NTIS product promotion, exports of such products have not been satisfactory.
Of the products under the NTIS, exports of iron, steel, lentil, medicinal herbs and tea went up, while exports of readymade garment, essential oil, woolen products (carpet), pashmina and Nepali handmade paper declined over the nine-month period of the current fiscal.
Progress in exports of services indentified under the NTIS has remained unsatisfactory so far.
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