Urlabari trade fair from Feb. 4

By Our Correspondent,Urlabari, Jan.21: The Urlabari Chamber of Commerce and Industry is going to organise ‘Provincial Industrial Trade, Agriculture and Tourism Festival 2023’ at Aitabare in Urlabari-4, Morang. Organising a press conference on Thursday, the business body of local traders informed that the festival would be held from February 4 to 12.

There will be 170 commercial stalls where the businessmen from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan will display their goods, it said.For the first time, businessmen from beyond Nepal will come to Urlabari of Morang district, said the organiser.

Stalls of various local dishes, agricultural and domestic products, automobiles, vehicles, electrics and electronic materials, costumes of different caste, hotels and beverages and clothes will be displayed at the festival.

Of 170 stalls, about 70 per cent have already been booked. It is estimated that around Rs. 11.5 million will be spent to organise the 9-day festival. Similarly, the organisers have expected 200,000 visitors and transaction worth Rs. 250 million in the festival.

Chandra Bahadur Bhattarai, coordinator of the festival organising committee, said that the target of the association is to generate income of Rs 1.5 million by deducting all expenses.

 He said that the main objective of the festival is to promote trade which was affected by COVID-19 pandemic and publicise and promote agricultural products such as honey, mushroom, fishes and Dhaka clothes.

“There are now no tourists visiting the places even though they are famous among the domestic tourists.  At least, the festival will inform the visitors about Madan Bhandari Memorial Museum, Betini Wetlands, Lampate Wetlands, Everest Fun Park and Natural Fish Resort and encourage them to visit them once,” he said.

Lalit Simkhada, a member of the festival organising committee, said that businessmen from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are willing to keep stalls in a small town of Nepal for the first time.It will help to make Urlabari as a big business centre, he said.