Nepal keen to promote trade with Pakistan: envoy

Islamabad

Ms. Sewa Lamsal Adhikari, Ambassador of Nepal, has said that his country was keen to promote trade with Pakistan as both countries have good potential to enhance bilateral trade in multiple fields.

She added that trade was now an integral part of sustainable development in the globalised and interdependent world. She said Nepal-Pakistan bilateral trade was not satisfactory despite having multiple consultative mechanisms and robust institutional as well as legal frameworks.

She stressed that both countries should make more efforts to promote frequent interactions between their private sectors and organise trade fairs, exhibitions and promotional activities to exploit all untapped areas of mutual cooperation. She was addressing business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

She said many Nepalese products including tea, coffee, pashmina products, woolen carpets, handicrafts, gold & silver jewellery, optical lenses, pulses, paper & paper products and medicinal herbs have good prospects in Pakistan.

Similarly, Pakistani textiles & leather products, machinery & parts, medicines and medical equipment, shoes & sandals, spices, dried fruits etc. have great potential in Nepalese market. She highlighted hydropower, tourism and agriculture as other potential areas of mutual cooperation between the two countries.

The envoy said Nepal possessed around 83,000 MW potential of hydropower generation, but was currently generating only around 700 MW hydroelectricity while the domestic demand was more than 1,500 MW which was estimated to reach 3,600 MW by 2027.

She said Pakistani investors should invest in hydropower, agriculture and herbal processing industries in Nepal to take benefit of its liberalised investment policies. She assured that she would work with commitment to increase the volume of trade, tourism, investment and people-to-people relations between Nepal and Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Khalid Iqbal Malik, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that lack of direct connectivity between Pakistan and Nepal was the major hurdle in bilateral trade.

He said both countries should focus on establishing direct air links and explore other options for doing direct trade for achieving better results.

He said both countries have shown interest to sign a free trade agreement and urged for its early finalisation that would be helpful in increasing bilateral trade to satisfactory level.

He said frequent exchange of trade delegations and organising single country exhibitions on reciprocal basis were the best tools to explore new areas of mutual collaboration.