Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, March 8:

The representatives of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) are meeting in Kathmandu in a bid to expedite the agreement on free trade area (FTA) among Nepal, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

The three-day long third BIMSTEC meeting being held in the capital from today is the first ever meeting of this sort. Fifty delegates from seven countries are participating in the programme. After inaugurating the meeting, Bharat Bahadur Thapa, the newly-appointed secretary at the ministry of industry, commerce and supplies said that the Trade Negotiating Team (TNC) would deal with important components of FTA pact such as trade in goods, rules of origin and dispute settlement mechanisms.

Thapa hoped that the meeting’s deliberations would help develop a firm ground for economic cooperation and trade integration in the region. A spirit of regional trade and economic integration guides Nepal’s commitment to the free trade area pact on BIMSTEC.” “In the process of achieving regional and trade integration, Nepal attaches great significance to its trade and economic relations with countries in South and South East Asia which account for a large portion of Nepal’s foreign trade.” Acting secretary at the ministry of labour and transport management, Purushottam Ojha commented that the joint meeting of BIMSTEC for Nepal, after SAFTA, is a momentous event for trade integration. This has created opportunities to develop complementarities in trade and enhance economic cooperation with our SAARC and ASEAN partners.

He said BIMSTEC- FTA also provides for special and differential treatment to least developed countries in terms of tariff reduction/elimination, maintenance of a sensitive products’ list and implementation of trade facilitation measures, custom cooperation, trade finance and e-commerce. Chairman of Trade Negotiating Team of BIMSTEC, Thawatchai Sophastienphong said that the meeting would discuss structural features of FTA agreement. He hoped that the FTA mechanism would help in enhancing economic activities and cooperation among member states. Prachanda Man Shrestha, joint secretary at the ministry of supplies, industry and commerce said that the meeting would focus on effective implementation of tariff reduction, dispute settlement and rule of origin, making trade liberalisation more useful to us. Binod Bahadur Shrestha, president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry talked about strengthening public-private partnership and stressed that the private sector should be in the driving seat. Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) said that there are both challenges and opportunities for the private sector.