The APTA, which was previously known as the Bangkok Agreement, has six member countries -- India, China, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Laos and Bangladesh.[break]
“We see a huge prospect of expanding our trade under the APTA agreement. The agreement is expected to expand market our products in huge economies like China, India and South Korea,” said Binod Acharya, under secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS).
Under the APTA, which offers preferential trading at lowered customs tariffs to its member countries, the government is also entering on the trade regime of service and investment.
Acharya, however, said Nepal needs to initiate necessary exercise before jumping into six-member trade agreement as being associated with the trade regime also means some concessions to be given by the Nepal to other member countries.
Nepal so far has been taking part in APTA meeting as an observer country.
In an bid to collect views of experts on APTA membership, MoCS and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) had organized an interaction in the capital a couple of days ago. Trade experts such as Joong-Wan Cho, chief of Trade Policy Section of Trade and Investment Division of ESCAP; Posh Raj Pandey, executive chairman of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWATEE) and Abin Khan of Trade and Investment Division of ESCAP, among others had expressed their opinions about the benefit and challenges of Nepal´s accession to APTA.
The APTA was signed in 1975 with the aim to promote economic development and cooperation through the adoption of mutually beneficial trade liberalization measures.
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