Kathmandu, July 14

Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce Naindra Prasad Upadhaya paid a courtesy call on Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Roberto Azevedo, at the latter’s office in Geneva yesterday.

Upadhaya is leading a Nepali delegation to the 6th Global Review of Aid for Trade held at the WTO from July 1 to 13. During the meeting, Upadhaya expressed happiness at the successful completion of the 6th Global Review of Aid for Trade on the theme ‘Promoting Trade Inclusiveness and Connectivity for Sustainable Development’.

He appreciated the catalytic and dynamic role being played by Azevedo in strengthening the multilateral trading system and highlighted the challenges Nepal is facing in export trade as an LDC, stated a press release issued by the Permanent Mission of Nepal in Geneva.

Upadhaya said ballooning trade deficit, inadequate physical infrastructures, digital and physical connectivity, high cost of cross border trade and other supply-side constraints are still constraining the growth of export trade.

He also stressed on enhancing productive capacity to strengthen backward and forward linkages of the economy and underscored the importance of standards, conformity assessment, mutual recognition, calibration and the need for capacity building of LDCs to tackle these issues.

DG Azevedo highlighted the need and importance of integration of MSMES in the GVCs in which e-trade could play a pivotal role and attached the importance of investment in the LDCs as trade and investment reinforce each other, added the release.

Also present in the meeting were Deepak Dhital, ambassador of Nepal to Permanent Mission to Geneva and Toya Narayan Gyawali, joint secretary, Ministry of Commerce. Dhital underscored the importance of industrialisation, structural transformation and product diversification in the LDCs for their better integration into the global trading system.

Dhital said the MC11 should deliver substantially on the agenda interests of LDCs putting development at the centre. He stressed that strengthening special and differential treatment provisions should get priority attention among member countries in MC11.