KATHMANDU: Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato today launched official SAARC Trade Information portal in the valley.

The portal will be a single point of access for all current SAARC-related business and trade information as it is will have data from all the eight SAARC countries.

It will also be continuously validated by 26 regional and national partners from both the private and public sectors of the region.Secretary General of SAARC Dr Sheel Kant Sharma and trade ministers from SAARC countries were present in the launching ceremony.

The initiators of the portal, SAARC Information Centre (SIC) and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), pursue the approach that having access to reliable trade information generates additional business because more and better information facilitates faster, more efficient and more cost-effective ways to realise intra-regional trading and business opportunities. As a result, successful business will create more employment and thus contribute the socio-economic development in the SAARC region, said the SIC.

The data displayed in the portal will be reliable to make business decisions. Business — especially Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) — of SAARC region can get much benefit from the information in developing their business and markets, it is hoped.