Itahari, November 23:

Nepali products worth Rs 3,95,57,00,257 were exported to overseas from the eastern region during the fiscal year 2063-64, informed Eastern Regional Office of Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) at a press conference organised here during Purbanchal Festival in Itahari on Wednesday.

Ready-made garments worth Rs 1,83,54,43,695 were exported to Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the US during the fiscal year 2063-64,” Binda Bhattarai, acting chief at the TEPC Eastern Regional Office, said, adding that the export of handicraft items and carpet stood at Rs 29,16,65,560 and Rs 38,84,40,218 respectively during the last fiscal year.

“There is a good market of handicraft items of eastern region in 28 countries,” Bhattarai added.

Other products like kattha, flour, empty sacks, cheese-balls, tea, peas, noodles, cardamom and hides of goat and buffalo worth Rs 1,44,01,60,784 were exported to abroad from eastern region during the last fiscal year, the TEPC eastern regional office said.

Meanwhile, participants speaking at the programme said that local products could not be exported in desired quantities due to the negligence of government and lack of consciousness and necessary knowledge.

Lack of quality in goods as the buyers’ demand, diversity in production and repeated incidences of bandhs and strikes have hit the export market hard recently, Dilip Kumar Aryal, acting executive director at the TEPC said stressing on the need of good coordination between Nepali and Indian custom offices for the promotion of export to foreign counties from Nepal.

“The export to Bangladesh has not been much encouraging as it could be due to non-cooperative policy and attitude of India,” Aryal said, adding that there is a need of tri-partite talks among Nepal, India and Bangladesh to solve the problem.