KATHMANDU, July 28: The revised Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) has set a target of contributing at least 4 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 through export of products and services listed in the country's trade strategy document.
The main trade strategy document of the government has also reduced the number of listed products and services to 12. The government had included 19 products and services in the document when it was first launched in 2010.
“The revised NTIS has trimmed the list of products and services having high export potentials to 12. Some products and services have been added, while some have been removed,” Toya Narayan Gyawali, joint secretary of Ministry of Commerce (MoC), said. He further added that the government will now focus on export promotion of products and services listed in NTIS.
The NTIS 2016 have incorporated tea, cardamom, ginger, medicinal and aromatic plants, carpet, leather, pashmina, footwear and fabrics/textile as products having high export potential. Similarly, tourism, remittance generating services and IT services are the high value services enlisted in the NTIS document.
While the NTIS 2016 has added hand-knotted carpet, leather, footwear and textile in the high value list, it has removed other low performing goods and services like handmade paper, silver jewelry, honey, lentils, noodles, iron and steel, hydroelectricity and engineering.
MoC plans to implement NTIS 2016 and meet the specified target by organizing awareness programs and workshops among stakeholders, producing audio/visual programs and documentaries, organizing media campaigns and coordinating with line ministries.
Furthermore, MoC has recommended 119 different programs for the promotion of 12 high value items listed in NTIS.
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'Addressing supply constraints key to boost trade'
Commerce Secretary Naindra Prasad Upadhayay on Wednesday said that country's trade can be boosted by addressing supply constraints and increase competitiveness of products.
Speaking at a program organized by Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) in Kathmandu on Wednesday, Upadhayay said: “There are various opportunities. However, we cannot take benefit from then unless we address supply constraints and make our products competitive.”
Presenting a paper on trade scenario of Nepal, Upadhayay emphasized the need to blend innovation, knowledge, skill and technology for effective resource mobilization in a bid to have better trade.
On the occasion, former member of National Planning Commission (NPC) Swarnim Wagle said that proper orientation, dynamism, diversification, sophistication, survival and transformation are the key factors to analyze trade performance and enhance trade further.
