Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that reducing the country’s trade deficit the main challenge for the country.
Inaugurating the fifth edition of Nepal Chamber Expo 2022 in Kathmandu on Thursday, Prime Minister Deuba urged all to reduce the trade deficit through export promotion by making the domestic products competitive in quality.
“Both export promotion and import substitutions are not possible without active participation and cooperation of the private sector. The government is ready to work with the private sector to keep the trade deficit within the desired limits by promoting exports and increasing local production,” he said.
He said that the government’s priority is to substitute imports by producing goods and services that can be produced in the country. Prime Minister Deuba said that the exhibition organised by the Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) would help in the promotion of domestic products at home and abroad.
Deuba said that consumers and observers will directly benefit from the fact that many kinds of items can be seen and bought and sold in one exhibition.
Prime Minister Deuba expressed his commitment that the government would always work hand in hand with the private sector for the development of entrepreneurship and export promotion of Nepal-made goods.
He also stressed on the need for the Chamber Expo to coordinate in the marketing of goods and the interests and tendencies of the consumers.
He said that trade fairs and exhibitions should include domestic raw materials and goods produced with indigenous technology and skills with emphasis on promoting such products and expanding market access.
President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce Rajendra Malla said that the chamber expo was organised amid uncomfortable situation after COVID-19.
He said that the expo would play an important role in making the economic activities of the country run smoothly.
President Malla said that the Chamber Expo, which has been organised annually since 2015, had to be postponed for the last few years due to the pandemic.
He said that the NCC will continue the expo as a regular annual event from now on. Since international-level trade fairs and exhibitions organised in the country are the venues where the latest technology, production, consumer desire and marketing and other economic and trade activities can directly be observed, the expo will be useful for the domestic entrepreneurs and general consumers, he said.
The exhibition is expected to give priority to the use of quality goods in the fair and to increase public awareness about consumer interest and use of local goods.
It is believed that the fair will also help in increasing the export of locally-made goods. Domestically produced agricultural and herbal products, electronics, garments and textiles, leather products, cosmetics, food and dairy products are on display at the fair organised at Bhrikutimandap, said the NCC.
Bangladesh is a partner country in the international fair organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies and the Trade and Export Promotion Centre.
There are more than 150 stalls in the fair, including industrialists from Nepal, India, Pakistan and other countries.
Source : TRN,
