High-ranking government officials from India and Nepal are getting ready to reassess the two nations’ Commerce Treaty during a two-day bilateral trade discussion that begins Thursday.
The Nepal-India Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting is scheduled for January 9–10, according to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies (MoICS). The IGC, a bilateral institution that is led by the commerce secretaries of India and Nepal, is in charge of managing trade, investment, transit, and treaty implementation for both nations.
The two nations decided to maintain the original Commerce Treaty without making any changes during their last two sessions. The most recent IGC meeting took place on December 7, 2020, in Kathmandu.
On November 27, 2009, Nepal and India signed the Trade and Commerce Treaty. The pact is automatically subject to renewal.
In terms of both imports and exports, India has been Nepal’s biggest commercial partner. Nepal imported Rs 1.592 trillion worth of commodities from India in the most recent fiscal year, totaling Rs 996.68 billion. Similarly, Nepal’s total export revenue of Rs 152.38 billion included Rs 103.17 billion from India.
According to MoICS spokeswoman Babu Ram Adhikari, the IGC meeting would mostly address trade and transit-related issues. “It is anticipated that the bilateral meeting will also resolve any issues that arise during trade between the two nations,” Adhikari stated.
India is anticipated to encourage Nepal to severely regulate illicit cross-border commerce and the repackaging and exporting of commodities from third countries to India during the conference. Agricultural products that are subject to hefty customs duties in India, such betel nuts and garlic, are primarily imported into Nepal before being shipped duty-free to India. Furthermore, Nepal’s limitations on the import of Indian dairy goods have also raised worries in India.
However, when exporting their goods to the southern neighbor, Nepali exporters have encountered some non-tariff obstacles from the Indian side. The export of tea, cardamom, shoes, ginger, diapers, plywood, cement, and sanitary pads, among other items, has repeatedly caused issues for Nepali businesses. Under the guise of the requirement to get a Bureau of Indian Certificate, India has been placing limitations on a variety of manufactured items.
According to a MoICS official, Nepal is likely to raise concerns during the next bilateral discussion on issues such quarantine restrictions on the export of Nepali agricultural products and the provision of convenient railway access for the transportation of bulk cargo to third-countries.
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