Kathmandu, July 2 :

Though India is considered as the largest market for Nepali products, industrialists have not been able to exploit this market well enough also. This has mainly been attributed to weak infrastructure, low economy of scales and a narrow product base.

Jawed Ashraf, economic counsellor, embassy of India speaking at a programme on ‘Opportunities, Prospects and Challenges in Indo-Nepal Trade and Investment’ said that India is a significant trade partner for Nepal and holds a good market potential for Nepali products.

He said that India is a fast growing market; therefore, Nepali entrepreneurs should cash in on it by identifying possible opportunities.

In terms of technology and huge financial resources, India can remain the best destination for which Nepal has to work in a planned way in some specific areas, Ashraf suggested. However, there are challenges for Nepal in the context of implementation of SAFTA in terms of value addition to products and other issues.

Nepal also has to look into making its products more competitive in a changed globalised environment, he said. Infrastructure constraints have been hurting Nepal from expanding its market to India, said he.

Aashmi Rana, convener of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI)-Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals’ Forum said that India and China as fast growing markets in the world, fortunately are our neighbours.

Given such a context, the Nepali economy enjoys a huge growth potential in terms of attracting foreign investments for production and trade enhancement, said Rana.

She hoped that while the forthcoming renewal of Nepal-India Trade Treaty will definitely address the important issues of industrialisation on both sides of the border as well as inclusion of investments and social sector issues.

She hoped that the renewal of the Nepal-India Trade Treaty would help encourage women entrepreneurship in Nepal by providing special preferences, facilities and incentives for encouraging exports to India of products manufactured in Nepal by women entrepreneurs.

Arun K Chaudhary, president of Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) presented a paper on ‘Nepal-India Trade and Investments: Opportunities, prospects and challenges’.

He said that Nepal has a trade deficit of Rs 19,995.70 million with India in the fiscal year 2004-05. He said that Nepal’s exports are basically agro-forestry based.

Lack of proper testing laboratory at border points and quarantine certificate being issued from Delhi, Kolkata and Lucknow are resulting in delays and unnecessary additional costs, said Chaudhary.

The programme, chaired by Binod K Chaudhary, president of CNI, was attended by the industry secretary Bharat Bahadur Thapa. Especially, young entrepreneurs took part at today’s programme organised jointly by CNI (YEF) and CNI-WEPF.