Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, April 30:

Taking part in a National workshop on Improving Enterprise Competitiveness and Productivity, organised by the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) in assistance with International Labour Organisation (ILO), experts stressed on the need to improve enterprise competitiveness and productivity to compete efficiently with global competition. Dr Rajen Mehrotra, senior specialists on employers’ activities, ILO sub-regional office New Delhi, stated that enterprise competitiveness and productivity links to the necessity of finding bench mark and locating real status of industries to formulate plans and policies for their sustainable development and growth.

“It is necessary to put some extra effort to build up enterprises in the south Asian region for competitiveness,” said Mehrotra. “It is a reality that Nepal has now joined the global market by becoming a member of the WTO and SAFTA where competitiveness matters a lot. Competitiveness is the ability to compete, to win markets and increase profits,” said Rohini Thapaliya, chairman , employers’ council, FNCCI. To develop strategic actions and plans for improved productivity and competitiveness, productivity measurement is an essential tool, he added.

This is part of a short-term project — which is a sub-regional activity — entitled ‘Capacity Building of FNCCI on Productivity and Competitiveness’ implemented by the FNCCI, with technical and financial support from Royal Norwegian government and the ILO. Speaking at the programme, Leyla Tegmo Reddy, director at the ILO office in Nepal said, “It is an extremely important field of enterprise to increase competitiveness and productivity, as it is directly related to the survival and growth of an enterprise.” After entering the global market, it is a great challenge for Nepal and also a great opportunity as experts say competition is the best assurance of healthy business, she added. Dr Rajen Mehrotra presented a paper on ‘Self Assessment of Enterprise Competitiveness and Use of Tool Kit for Measuring Productivity and Enterprise Competitiveness.