“Nepal must negotiate for preferential market access with China”

the_farsight · “Nepal must negotiate for preferential market access with China”

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In this seventh episode of the FSi podcast, we have former Commerce and Industry Secretary Chandra Kumar Ghimire as our guest who currently works as a policy researcher in matters relating to trade, transit, investment, and industrial development. 

We centre our conversation on the Nepal-China trade and transit relationship in the context of PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s upcoming visit to China scheduled to begin on 23^rd September 2023.

Ghimire insists that the Nepal-China Trade and Payments Agreement 1981, which comprises several gaps for a bilateral agreement, has turned obsolete in the present time while Nepal faces a huge trade deficit with China. 

Nepal’s import from China amounted to Rs 222 billion in the fiscal year 2079/80 while its export value amounted to Rs 1.76 billion — a trade deficit of Rs 220 billion, according to data published by the Department of Customs. 

“There is a need for a new trade agreement and Nepal must negotiate for preferential market access with China”, says the former secretary, further emphasising that PM Dahal must bring it to the discussion table with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping during the upcoming visit.

The podcast also touches upon several matters relating to trade with respect to Nepal-China including border points, trade infrastructure and supply-side constraints on the part of Nepal, and China as a transit for Nepal’s trade with third countries.