Nepali Business Leader Foresees Rosy Prospect for Nepal-China Economic Cooperation

Nepal and China, as close and friendly neighbors, have great potentialities in further developing economic cooperation which has not yet been fully tapped, a Nepali business leader told Xinhua recently.

As China is an emerging economic power in the world while Nepal is endowed with rich and untapped natural resources, the combination of Chinese capital and technology with Nepal's abounding resources will benefit enormously to both countries, Pradeep Shrestha, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"Agro-based and forest based industries, hydropower, tourism, medicinal herbs and pharmaceutical, construction material, transportation, banking and financial institutions are among the important areas where Nepal offer best opportunities for investment," Shrestha said.

Bilateral trade between China and Nepal has seen steady development since the formal establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1955 and has witnessed rapid expanding after 1996, when Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a state visit to Nepal and the two governments agreed to further promote good-neighborly partnership between Nepal and China.

Statistics shows that trade volume between China and Nepal reached US$67.74 million in 1997, an increase of 68.7 percent over 1996. The figure soared to US$220 million in 1999, a sharp rise of over 200 percent compared with 1998.

However, despite the rapid expanding of bilateral trade, Nepal-China trade and commerce dealings are minimal so far when compared with Nepal's total trade volume, accounting for less than 10

percent, Shrestha said.

China's investment in Nepal is also very low and there are only about 20 Chinese joint ventures in Nepal, focusing on food and

food-processing sector, he added.

Shrestha attributed this situation to, among other reasons, lack of orientation and information for businessmen of both countries, lack of infrastructure and facilities mainly on the Nepali side for joint ventures and business transactions and difficult accessibility to Nepal, which is a landlocked country.

Encouragingly, the fourth meeting of Nepal-China Nongovernmental Cooperation Forum (NCNCF) that was held early this month in Wuxi of China have been successful in solving some of the problems and "I think we would be able to find solutions of many of our problems in the days to come," said Shrestha, who returned from the meeting days ago.

NCNCF was established in 1996 with the aim to promote nongovernmental cooperation, especially the cooperation between business sectors of the two countries. NCNCF meeting is held once a year in Nepal and China by turn to discuss issues and problems accordingly.

Shrestha considered the newly-concluded NCNCF meeting successful in charting out the strategies for enhanced trade, investment and overall economic cooperation between Nepal and China and described it as a milestone in strengthening the cooperation in tourism and identifying suitable projects for joint venture investment.

"The deliberations and discussions during the meeting have greatly helped us suggest our respective government the areas for policy reforms and needful arrangements on various issues that impinge on bilateral trade," he said.

The meeting decided on areas of future cooperation, such as agriculture, IT sector, solar and hydropower, training of professionals and regular exchange of business delegations, according to a press release by FNCCI, an apex body of Nepal's business sector.

Some helpful initiatives, such as setting up an export processing zone near Nepal-China border, opening additional trade routes between Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region of China and working out a transit agreement between the two countries, will be discussed or even substantialized during the fifth NCNCF meeting to be held in Nepal next year.

On the part of the Nepali government, it is also taking initiatives to facilitate trade and foreign investment, such as liberalization, deregulation, deburaucratization and simplifying investment procedures, as well as providing facilities and incentives to foreign investors, Shrestha said.

Besides, an agreement is expected to be signed early next year between Nepal and China to lift double tariffs, which is good news to businessmen of both countries, he added.

"Looking at those encouraging developments, I am hopeful to say that there is ample prospects for increasing trade and commerce

between our two countries in near future," he said.






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