Kathmandu, February 4:

The government has asked the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to take note of local needs when it comes up with a renewed commitment to fund projects aimed at boosting the country’s trade and manufacturing-related capacity.

This has come to the fore prior to the launch of the next phase of the UNDP-funded project, preparation for which is currently underway. As to how long it takes before the project goes into implementation will depend on how fast the final draft is approved by the government.

“What we are expecting from the UNDP next is they should take serious note of the local needs before stepping in to help build trade and manufacturing-related capacity,” said Prachanda Man Shrestha, who heads the World Trade Organisation (WTO) cell at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Supplies (MOICS).

Shrestha said this while pointing out the general inclination demonstrated by the UN and other international agencies when helping third world countries. That, among others, entails heavy expenditure on administrative matters, with less attention on physical infrastructure.

Shrestha enumerated the local agenda, which should not be compromised at the altar of UN culture which, inter alia, entails more stress on advisory role while the task of building infrastructure suffers quietly.

“What we want is that physical infrastructure should top their agenda. Conversely, advisory role can wait,” Shrestha said. Shiv Raj Bhatt, Programme Officer, Trade Related Capacity Building (TRCB), a project funded by UNDP, said: “We have organised interaction sessions to assess the needs.”

Yet another need is to put an end to the trend of ordering studies and coming up with reports. “The need now is to evolve an action plan and enforce the ones which are already ready,” Shrestha further said, pointing out the need to keep the administrative cost low.

He also suggested the UN agency now come up with something new and concrete when it comes to encouraging product development, with special emphasis on handicraft and related attractions “rather than frittering away funds on non-productive academic activism.”

The UN agency had volunteered to take up the challenge of boosting the trade and manufacturing capacity of Nepal in the run up to Nepal’s ascension to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) way back in 1997.

While the first phase of the project went by the name of Nepal’s Accession to the WTO, which lasted from 1997-2003, the second phase was named the Multilateral Trade Integration and Human Development in Nepal. The second lasted from July 2003 to December 2004. Last in the series is Trade Related Capacity Building which ended in December.