In September this year,a High Level Business Forum headed by Nepal's Prime Minister Dr.Baburam Bhattarai resolved to include readymade garments in the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy(NTIS),but apparel entrepreneurs of the country are still awaiting implementation of the same,The Himalayan Times reported.
Garment Association-Nepal(GAN)president Uday Raj Pandey said that though the decision was taken in September,the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has not accorded its final approval to the decision.
Nepali garment and carpet exporters'claim that the country's overall exports include garment and carpet exports worth around Np Rs.10 billion.In spite of this,the Government has not included these items in its list of 19 items notified as priority items under the NTIS 2010.
Toya Narayan Gyawali,Joint Secretary at the Ministry said the Ministry would hold a workshop to ponder on the present status of the products which have already found place in the NTIS list,and also on those awaiting the same.
He said based on the workshop discussion,they would prepare a report citing whether to add new items to the list,or to drop some of the existing ones.This report would be then sent to the Cabinet,which would take a final decision.
The issue regarding inclusion of garments in the NTIS was raised during a National Business Forum(NBF)held in October 2010,and a decision on the same was taken during a high level business forum held under Chairmanship of the Prime Minister in September this year.
An unexpected fall was witnessed in Nepal's exports of garments,carpets and pashmina,the country's key exportable products,during first quarter of the current year.
The country's garment industry also lost its hope of having India as its next key export destination,following an abrupt fall in its exports in 2011-12.As against GAN's expectation of exporting garments worth about Rs.800-900 million to India during 2011-12,the actual exports for the fiscal totalled just Rs.332 million.
Source:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=118713
