Kathmandu, January 20:

Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha today said that the government is ready to extend its support in capacity building and technical skills enhancement of private sector on international trade. He was speaking at an inaugural of basic training workshop on multilateral trade organised jointly by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies with Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC), today.

The five-day long training-cum-workshop that will last till January 24, aims to impart basic knowledge on various provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and multilateral trading arrangements to Nepali entrepreneurs. Stressing the need of partnership, Ojha informed that MoICS would organise such awa-reness programmes with businessmen at district level, too. “Private sector is lead player in multilateral trading system.”

Stating that Nepal’s entry into WTO has brought both challenges and opportunities, NCC president Surendra Bir Malakar said that a major challenge ahead is how to reap maximum benefits and make the WTO provisions catalyst for the economic development. He also stressed the need of partnership between the government and private sector to expand Nepal’s presence and boost export in the international markets. “Procedural hassles and ambiguity in policy matters have weakened Nepal’s competitiveness in the international markets,” Malakar said, adding that Nepal needs to effectively use its safeguard measures.