Kathmandu, March 3

The International Trade Centre (ITC) — the United Nations’ specialised agency on international trade — jointly with the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) organised a training programme in the capital of Province-4, Pokhara.

The two-day training programme titled ‘How to Export to China’ that concluded recently provided information on import rules of the northern neighbour, utilisation of market preferences, and non-tariff measures levied by the government of China on imports, among others.

The training was conducted with an aim of building capacities of exporters of hand-knotted woollen carpets and medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), according to TEPC.

The initiative is a part of ‘Enhancing Export Capacities of Asian Least Developed Countries’, an ITC project supported by the Ministry of Commerce of China. The training programme was based on the Export Management Guide prepared by ITC.

Altogether, 60 exporters of carpets and MAPs from different parts of the country benefited from this training.

Sarad Bickram Rana, executive director of TEPC, expressed confidence that the training will provide necessary guidance to the exporters and will eventually enhance export from Nepal to the northern neighbour.

Based on the manual developed by ITC, the TEPC will conduct more training programmes across the country to enrich exporters with export-related knowledge. Lack of export-related knowledge and prompt information on changes in import rules of the concerned country have been hampering Nepal’s exports despite traders having great wealth of indigenous knowledge on developing the products with niche market advantage.

As per Qasim Chaudry, an international consultant of ITC, the project aimed at building the capacity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to export to China and help them understand the requirements for the same. He further stated that carpets and MAPs have been identified, through sector analysis, as the products having the highest export potential to China.

Ram Bahadur Gurung, a provincial assembly member of Province-4 and president of Nepal Carpet Exporters Association, mentioned the importance of training programmes to produce skilled human resources and build expertise in export processes to enhance the export of carpets from Nepal.

Likewise, Govinda Ghimire, president of Nepal Herbs and Herbal Association, said that lack of internationally accredited laboratories for issuing certificate of analysis (CoA) and lack of quarantine facilities are the major impediments to export of MAPs from Nepal.