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WTO to help Nepal promote its products

WTO to help Nepal promote its products(Kathmandu post, Mar 19,2012)

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will help Nepal in promotion of three products—ginger, tea and pashmina—in the international market under its Trading Stories Project.
A four-member WTO team has arrived in Nepal to make documentaries on the production of these products. It will visit Kolbung and Dhulabari of Jhapa district to film ginger and tea production, according to WTO’s Nepal Enhanced Capacities for Trade and Development (NECTRADE) project.
“The team will also make a documentary on the production of yarn from high Himalayan goats (raw material for pashmina) in Jomsom, Mustang, according to Dhiraj Karki, project and policy analyst at NECTRADE. WTO’s Trading Stories Project has been designed to help least developed countries (LDCs) promote their products in the global market. The WTO had selected Nepal, along with seven other LDCs, for this project a few months ago.
The arrival of the WTO team has excited Pashmina industries. “This WTO initiative will help increase demand from the international market,” said Mandu Babu Adhikari, chief programme officer at the Nepal Pashmina Industries’ Association (NPIA). “The WTO and Ministry of Commerce and Supplies are expected to put the documentary on their websites.”
Besides, Nepal is also in the process of getting financial aid from WTO for market expansion of ginger and pashmina. NECTRADE was set up to help Nepal to promote 19 products having comparative advantage identified by the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy 2010 (NTIS 2010) and these two items will be the first to get WTO aid.
Karki said Nepal will get $1.17 million for ginger and $1.20 million for pashmina. The WTO is likely to approve the fund for ginger by the first week of April. “We are waiting for the WTO board meeting,” said Karki.
Karki said they have prepared the final draft of the proposal on pashmina and are preparing for its submission at the WTO. “We will submit the proposal soon,” he said.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Agro Enterprise Centre of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Food and Agriculture Organisation will implement the ginger programme for the next two-three years. The scheme is expected to benefit around 2,000 small ginger farmers. The farmers will be provided with improved seeds and a processing plant will be installed.
The financial support for the pashmina sector is expected to enhance production and processing of raw materials.

 

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