Nepal-Bangladesh to jointly promote trade, tourism

Nepal and Bangladesh could promote trade and tourism jointly, according to a higher Bangladeshi official.
Addressing a Round Table Meeting on ‘Nepal-Bangladesh Relations: Exploring Trade and Commerce’, in Kathmandu on Friday jointly organized by the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA) and Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Shubhashish Bose, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh, said Nepal and Bangladesh could both develop a joint tourism package. “Both the countries can cooperate to formulate such policies that could offer a joint package to the tourists who can visit both the countries easily,” he said, adding that Nepal could be the chief exporter of commodities like tea, garlic, lentils, cardamom to Bangladesh.
He also suggested that the Export Function Bureau of Bangladesh and Trade and Export Promotion Centre of Nepal could sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to better facilitate trade and commerce between the two nations. Bose, on the occasion, said that both the nations need to cooperate to be self-reliant and support the South Asian market rather than wholly depend on their Western or European counterparts.
Delivering a key note speech, he spoke about the globalized world and as a part of a global community. “We need to capitalize our resources so that efficient services can be offered to different countries of the world.” He talked about the comparative advantage of Bangladesh having young population against the developed countries which needs to be channelized in the right manner.
Chandra Kumar Ghimire, Commerce Secretary, on the occasion, emphasized that the population of Nepal has great potential if guided in the right direction and the utilization of the demographic dividend will be in its full form if proper actions taken in the form of education and practice. He mentioned that partnership with our immediate neighbor like Bangladesh is necessary to achieve the estimated GDP of Nepal to be 8 percent this year. “Liberal policies are necessary regarding tariffs and connectivity,” he said, mentioning the agendas like generation and export of hydropower sector in Nepal, tariff related issues, and preferential market access, Rohan Singbad route, simplification of pharmaceutical products, etc will be put into action.
He expressed the need of trilateral cooperation between India-Nepal-Bangladesh to better facilitate trade and commerce.
Likewise, Hari Bhakta Sharma, President, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) wished to see the trade agreement happen between both the nations regarding the hydropower sector. He talked about the acute deficiency of infrastructure regarding tourism which needs to be developed to better enhance revenue from tourism industry. Sharma also suggested that there can be a common visa for Bangladeshi tourists to India and Nepal. He mentioned that a lot of things need to be done in future but the most important thing to be done is the immediate implementation of the decisions made.
Mashfee Binte Shams Ambassador of Bangladesh to Nepal delivered the closing remarks, on the occasion.
The policy experts, academician, business persons, government authorities, representatives from business associations among other concern stakeholders actively participated in the discussion. The major objectives of the programme was to discuss the possible trading arenas between the two countries focusing on connectivity through which trade between the two neighboring countries can flourish and benefit both the parties, according to the organizer.