December 2000 / January 2001

NEPAL

Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Foreign Investment and Foreign Trade Agency of Mongolia (FIFTAM) signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on augmenting the trade and transactions existing between Nepal and Mongolia amid a function in Kathmandu on January 5, 2001.

A 34-member business delegation, accompanying the 3 day state visit of the President of Mongolia Natsagiin Bagabandi to Nepal, was currently in Kathmandu.

Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, President of FNCCI and B Ganzorig, Chairman of the Foreign Investment and Foreign Trade Agency and leader of the Mongolian business delegation signed the MoU on behalf of Nepal and Mongolia respectively.

Mongolian businessmen in an interaction showed interest in working jointly in the fields of small and medium enterprises, handicrafts, wool processing, mining, information technology, tourism and pharmaceuticals mainly. Similarly, Nepali entrepreneurs expressed their desire to import raw materials for pashmina and carpet and export the finished goods to Mongolia.

On the occasion a discussion on the possibilities of investment in potential areas of industry and commerce was held between representatives of the Mongolian business delegation and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

The Mongolian delegation was part of the entourage of Mongolian President Natsagiin Bagabandi.

On the occasion, Mongolian Minister of Industry and Commerce Ch. Ganzorig urged industrialists and businessmen of both the countries to make extensive study and analysis for investment in possible sectors.

Deputy Minister for Infrastructure U. Ulambayar said Mongolia is formulating a strategy to enhance industry and trade.

FNCCI president Pradeep Kumar Shrestha said a scrutiny of developmental objectives, resources base and existing economic structure of the two countries reveals that there is huge potential for the economic links to grow and reach sizeable proportions.

Mr. Shrestha on the occasion also shed light on the potential areas of economic collaboration between business entrepreneurs of the two countries.

Similarly marking the firstever state visit by the Mongolian head of state, Nepal and Mongolia agreed to establish a joint commission at the Foreign Ministerial level to act as an umbrella body to review the various aspects of bilateral relations.

IT Policy approved by Cabinet

The Cabinet on 23 October approved the Information Technology Policy 2000 draft, prepared and made public by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The policy vows to legalize e-commerce, introduce governance and computer education to primary up to university level curricula and to create a fair environment conducive to IT development.

With the adoption of the Policy, it is hoped that IT-related services will become efficient, qualitative and affordable for common people.

The policy envisages putting Nepal on the global IT map and exporting software and hardware worth Rs 10 billion over the next five years.

Making IT affordable to the general public thereby creating employment opportunities, building a knowledge based society and establishing knowledge based industries are the prime objectives of the policy.

A National Information Technology Center (NITC) will be established at the most initially and its regional and district offices will be opened as required. An Information Technology Development Trust (ITDT) will be setup and an additional 0.5 customs duty will be charged on goods to raise fund for the Trust.

The policy has proposed to levy one percent customs duty on the imported software, hardware and other IT-related spare parts and accessories and to give equal facilities to software and hardware exporters to other exporters in their foreign currency earning.

China agrees on rope-way link between Nepal, Tibet

With a view to discouraging unauthorised and illegal trade across the Nepal-Tibet the autonomous region of the Peoples' Republic of China border at Tatopani, Chinese authorities on the Tibetan side have agreed to a proposal to construct a one-and-half kilometers long cable car project for Khasa Bazaar in Tibet and Tatopani on Nepali side.

Chief of the Tatopani customs Bharat Raj Subedi said that he had informed the Ministry of Finance after the Tibetan authorities agreed with the proposal put forward by them. The Tibetan side has already begun a preliminary survey for the construction of the cable car service.

The project is likely to cost about Rs. 200 million, which will be borne by the Tibetan side.

A lot of time would be saved once the project is materialised. Currently, vehicles have to cover a 10-km long gravelled, hair-pin road to get to Khasa from the Friendship bridge over the river Bhote Koshi at Tatopani.

The Tibetan side has assured of completing the rope-way project within two years once the Nepal government agrees to it.

Nepal's herbal medicines popular in India

Sancho, a Nepali herbal product and Silajit have become popular among Indians. Many visitors, according to the herbal production and processing company, showed interest in medicinal herbs and scented oils from Nepal at the India International Trade Fair-2000 held at the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from November 14 to 27.

The company had taken part in the India International Trade Fair - 2000 under the leadership of the Trade Promotion Center.

This is the first time that Nepali medicinal herbs and essence oils have been promoted in India. The herbal production and processing centre is planning to exports its products to India in the coming days keeping in mind the market demand there.

Sancho has become very popular among Nepalis as an alternative to the Indian Vicks and Chinese Shichu Vicks.

His Majesty's Government and the Republic of Austria have signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion.

The agreement aims at protecting investors of both countries from any incidence of double taxation and promoting investment as well. The agreement is based on international practices that define the taxing rights between Nepal and Austria in different circumstances.

The signing of the double taxation avoidance agreement between Nepal and Austria will mark the beginning of a new dimension in relations which will witness increasing bilateral cooperation in various spheres, be it in the trade, economic, financial or even cultural sphere.

Diplomatic relations between Nepal and Austria were established in 1959.

Nepal-Sri Lanka Business Council constituted

Nepal-Sri Lanka Business Council has been constituted under the chairmanship of treasurer of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce Bhakta Bahadur Malla with the objective of promoting trade between the two countries, exchanging business information and exchanging visits between the business of the two countries.

Jaya Dewan and U.O. Jayaratne are the vice presidents, Balaram Rajbhandary the general secretary, Ramesh Khetan the secretary, Krishna Bahadur Basnet the treasure and Lokmanya Golchha, Him Bahadur Rawal, Dipak Bahadur Shrestha, Ashok Agrawal and Ramesh Shrestha the members of the Nepal Sri Lanka Business Council.

Sri Lankan Ambassador Pamela Deen, President of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce Rajesh Kaji Shrestha and Karna Shakya are advisor to the council.

Two major commercial banks management to be handed over to Pvt. firms

The Ministry of Finance and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the country's central bank, recently said they were decided on handing over the management of two public sector banks to the private firms.

The management of Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) and Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) will be given an contract for a maximum period of three years beginning April 2001 to rescue them from the financial crisis that they are currently in.

Tourist arrival decline by 11%

Tourists coming to Nepal via air route in 2000 has dropped by 10.61 percent compared to 1999.

According to the statistics made available by the Nepal Tourism Board, tourist arrivals in Nepal in 2000 figure at 376,503 against 421,000 in 1999.

Although there has been a slight positive growth in third country arrivals in the given year, Indian tourist arrivals have dropped drastically during same period.

Export of Carpet declined

Manufacturers and the exporters of the woollen handmade carpet have urged the government to take timely initiative to arrest the declining trend in the export of the carpet.

In fiscal year 1998/99, Nepal exported 2,604,475.87 square meter of woollen carpet, which went down to 2509452.43 square meters in the fiscal year 1999/2000 and the export figure of first five months of the current fiscal year is also not very encouraging.

Asian Paints to provide 150% dividend

Asian Paints (Nepal) Pvt. Ltd. has announced 150 percent dividend to its shareholders.

That company has also made a contribution of about Rs. 20 million in the reported fiscal year.

A joint venture with Asian Paints (India) Ltd., Asian Paints (Nepal) Pvt. Ltd. was established at Hetauda in Makawanpur district in 2042 B.S. The fifty one percent (51%) shares of the company has been held by Asian Paints (India) Ltd., while Ravi Associates Patna and 25 Nepali investors have owned 9% and 40% of shares respectively.

The company have already received the ISO 9002, NICCI excellence Award, NS Quality Award, and such other quality and safety awards.

Hukum Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd. gets ISO 9002

Hukum Pharmaceuticals Private Limited has become the first pharmaceutical company in Nepal to achieve ISO 9002 certification.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has certified that Hukam Pharmaceuticals has used quality system in manufacturing its pharmaceutical products.

With the ISO certification, the products of Hukum Pharmaceuticals will received global recognition. The achievement of the certification approves that the good manufacturing practice (GMP) adopted by the Pharmaceuticals Company is up to the international standard.

ISO, established in 1947, is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies in 130 countries. ISO promotes the development of standardization and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of quality goods and services.

Surya Tobacco Company gets Safety Award

Surya Tobacco Company (P) Limited has been declared as the first recipient of the prestigious National Safety Award 2000. The citation was awarded to STC during the closing ceremony of the National Safety Week at Kathmandu on 23rd Mangsir 2057, celebrated for the first time in Nepal under the auspices of His Majesty's Government.

Audits of the contesting industries were conducted by a team of expert.

The team evaluated the performance of the nominated industries on the basis of compliance to environmental, occupational, health and safety standards and policies.

Santosh Tibrewala appointed Honorary Consulate of Morocco

Santosh Kumar Tibrewala has been appointed Honorary Consulate of Morocco for the Kingdom of Nepal.

Mr. Tibrewala Managing Director of Tibrewala & Sons (Pvt) Ltd. is the chairperson, Industry Committee of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FNCCI), and Governing Council member of the World Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME). He is a graduate in commerce from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. Mr. Tibrewala is also engaged in Nepal Marwari Parishad and other different social organisations.