EU assistance for enhancing supply capacity in Nepal
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, Aug 5: The European Union (EU) has expressed commitment to provide nine million Euro to enhance Nepal´s supply capacity in foreign trade and strengthening facilities of government laboratories to international standard.
“The four-member EU trade mission expressed commitment to support for our trade capability with more production of exportable goods and enhance facilities of our existing laboratories to the global standard. However, we are yet to finalize the activities that would be launched on the development of products under the assistance,” said Toya Narayan Gyawali, joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS).
The EU mission led by Wenguo Cai is in the capital for the past couple of days to discuss the prospect of supporting Nepal.
Gyawali said the target products to be developed under the assistance will be selected from a list of products included in Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS)-the government´s strategic blueprint for trade promotion, introduced in 2010.
The government has identified large cardamom, ginger, honey, lentil, tea, instant noodles, medicinal herbs, crafts and industrial goods, hand-made paper, silver jewelry, iron-steel products, Pashmina products and wool products as the highly potential products to be developed under the NTIS. Similarly, NTIS has incorporated services such as tourism, labor service, IT, health, education, engineering and hydro- electricity for trade promotion.
Under the EU aid, existing labs at Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) and Nepal Bureau of Standard and Metrology (NBSM) will be upgraded to issue international standard certification.
In the absence of internationally recognized lab Nepali traders are frequenting different Indian labs for quality certification of Nepali exportable products. During previous trade talks, Nepal had demanded Indian recognition to Nepali labs to certify the quality of exportable Nepali goods.
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EU Assistance For Enhancing Supply Capacity In Nepal
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