The US government has offered this opportunity to Nepal to recover from the shattered economy following the devastating earthquake and blockade

After a hiatus of ten years of sluggish export business a big opportunity has arrived again for the Nepali garment and carpet industries. US President Barack Obama signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Bill into a law on February 25 paving the way for a duty-free access of Nepali products to the US market. The Bill, first introduced by Representative Patrick J. Tiberi, was endorsed by the US Senate in December. The law aims to give special preference to Nepali garment industries which can generate employment opportunity to thousands of people at home. The duty-free facility will be applicable to 66 items including cotton apparels, woolen products, Pashmina shawl, leather products, travel goods and carpets. These were the products on which Nepal had gained expertise till 2005 when the Multi-Fiber Agreement, known as quota system, was phased out. After the expiry of the MFA all Nepali goods had to pay about 17 percent tax in the US, and it made Nepali products more expensive compared to similar products from other developing countries in Asia and Africa.

The US International Trade Commission, an independent body, will visit Nepal within a month to assess its ability to use the trade preference offered by the US. The US Embassy in Kathmandu has also termed it a “tremendous opportunity” for Nepali businesses to expand their export to US markets. The Embassy has also called upon the government to chalk out details of plans to reap in benefits from this opportunity that will last for ten years till 2025. The law stipulates that the preferential duty-free items to be exported to the US marker must contain 35 percent local raw materials and labour content. The US legislation also outlines a trade capacity building programme which will help Nepal implement the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.

It may be recalled that Nepal had gained expertise in garments, carpets and handicrafts trade in the early 1990s. But the foreign currency earning sector collapsed due to infiltration from outside, issue of excessive use of child labour in carpet industries, unionism, labour unrest and heavy duty on apparel products. If the opportunity offered by the US government is to be utilised for the best interest of Nepalis a law must be introduced barring foreigners from working in the garment and carpet industries that provide jobs to a large number of people. The business community, especially the FNCCI, must follow the business ethics and give up the dream of becoming rich overnight. The biggest challenges for the Nepali business community are to find the local raw materials as required by the US law and a skilled labour force. These are the criteria the business community must meet to benefit from the duty-free access to the largest economy in the world. The government, business community and the Nepali labour force must work in tandem to reap benefits from this opportunity. The US government has offered this opportunity to the Nepali people to recover from the shattered economy following the devastating earthquake in April and May last year and an unexpected and sudden economic blockade imposed on the country immediately after the promulgation of the new constitution.

Children’s voice

Child marriage is rampant despite provisions in the Nepali law that a couple should marry only after having reached the age of 20. The Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014, which is carried out every three years, has come out with figures

that child marriages still persist. They point out these anomalies with two out of 10 women aged between 15 to 49 years being married before they reached the age of 15.

It is a fact that child marriage is harmful to the children because they have yet to develop fully physically. The girl child in such marriages is also not emotionally ready to become a wife and mother. These female children are also likely to face more abuse with discrimination and domestic violence, as well as being deprived of education which they have a right to. Thus, it behooves on the children to persuade their parents and on the parents themselves to realize that daughters should be married only after they have reached the age of at least 20. Social pressure should be built up at the same time.