A steering committee led by Commerce Secretary Naindra Prasad Upadhaya decided to send the 200-page document to EIF - a program under World Trade Organization (WTO) -- on Thursday.MoCS officials have been collecting opinions from different stakeholders before finalizing the document. The document will be sent to Geneva within a week.
NTIS, which includes a list of 19 exportable products having competitive advantage, was introduced in 2010 to promote their export.
Talking to Republica, Toya Narayan Gyawali, spokesperson of MoCS, said EIF's opinion is being taken as it can help to mobilize resources and support which is important for trade promotion.
EIF is a multi-donor program under World Trade Organization which helps least-developed countries (LDCs) to be more active in global trading system by helping them tackle supply-side constraints. The board members of EIF will look into the draft document and provide needful suggestions within 21 days, according to Gyawali. "It will then be forwarded to the cabinet meeting for approval," he added.
Trade expert Posh Raj Pandey said Nepal should take support from donors as it needs to build trade infrastructures to enhance export supply capacity.
Amendment to NTIS is expected to add some products in the product list. Similarly, some weak-performing products are likely to be removed from the list. The updated draft of NTIS has not been made public yet.
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