NCC, ECN agree for export facilitation

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Feb. 7: An agreement has been reached between the Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) and the Export Council of Nepal (ECN) to reduce trade deficit and increase exports.

While welcoming the newly elected executive committee of the Council at the Chamber Building in Jamal, Kathmandu, the agreement was made to cooperate on various issues of policy reforms and possibilities for export facilitation.

There will be cooperation between the two organisations on matters ranging from policy formulation to customs facilitation for enhancing the production and export of goods, according to a press statement of the NCC.

President of NCC Rajendra Malla said that the expected benefits could not be obtained due to the inability to identify and promote exportable goods of the country. He said, "There is an export potential of more than Rs. 1,000 billion in the country. But even goods worth Rs. 150 billion have not been exported,”

He said that NCC would take initiatives to end the policy difficulties seen in export promotion. He said that customs administration should be made sound and effective along with policy reforms to reduce trade deficit.

Similarly, President Malla emphasised that a high-level quarantine lab be established in customs and provision of export subsidy be implemented effectively. He said that exports can be doubled if there is an arrangement to make direct payments online while exporting the goods.

He said that if agricultural products, handicrafts, herbs, tea, coffee and other products produced from all over the country can be collected and exported through an integrated export centre or export promotion house, the production costs will be reduced for small businessmen and benefits increased.

President Malla said that the trade deficit of the country has been growing over the year and it has started to be close to the size of the budget every year.

He said, "The country's huge trade deficit is also an obstacle to economic prosperity and development. In the absence of domestic production, dependence on agricultural products is increasing, and exports have not been facilitated even in areas with good potential."

In the meeting, the newly elected chairman of Export Council of Nepal Naresh Lal Shrestha said that the businessmen were suffering unnecessarily due to the lack of facilitation of the customs process.