Kathmandu, January 2:

On the second day of the enforcement of South Asia Free Trade (SAFTA) in all the SAARC countries, prominent experts here have expressed doubts over the advantages of the free trade regime to Nepal in the near future.

Private sector people expressed concerns that Nepal does not have the competitive products to go in for free trade, at a programme held in the capital on Monday. There is an urgent need to identify more exportable products and potential sectors to fully exploit opportunities explored by global and regional trade arrangements.

Padma Jyoti, former president of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed the views that only reducing customs duties will not be helpful to boost free trade. He said that Nepal’s is a weak economy which needs to become competitive first to compete in the SAFTA environment and reap benefits from it. There are a lot of challenges for Nepal to realise the benefits from the free trade framework, he said.

Due to our earlier bilateral agreements with India, there will not be much effect on our economy but trade and economic activities with other countries in the region may expand due to SAFTA enforcement, hoped Jyoti.

Chandi Raj Dhakal, president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), expressing doubts about the benefits to be generated by SAFTA due to the lack of exportable products.

In the current environment, Nepal does not have exportable products to compete. It has not either done any serious homework in preparation of SAFTA that may impact affect its economy in a negative way, Dhakal said. He was of the opinion that effective strategies with updated policy reviews are needed immediately.

Bharat Bahadur Thapa, secretary at the ministry of industry, commerce and supplies, said that we needed to go for free trade and there was no other option. At the same time, he expressed ‘fears and challenges’ both while joining SAFTA, due to our weak economic base and slow progress in building development infrastructure.

Prof Bishwambher Pyakuryal, president of Nepal Economic Association (NEA) said that for the first four years, Nepal will not have a negative impact on its economy. However, after that, what we do needs to be worked out properly by identifying potential sectors and products which could be lucrative to the entire region.

Thapa admitted that Nepal has a weak revenue base and industries are not mature at par with other countries. Given such a scenario, we need to strengthen our capacity and massively work for identifying sectors and areas which may benefit us in the long run, said Thapa.

Dr Badri Prasad Shrestha, former finance minister, expressed the view that Nepal will not have problems in SAFTA at the regional level as bilateral agreements have different placements on our economy.