Kathmandu, Sept 16: Nepal hosted the 7th Council Meeting on the Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFA) between the United States and Nepal. The meeting brought together delegates from the United States, led by Assistant United States Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, and Nepal, discussing expanded bilateral trade and investment in both goods and services.
On the occasion, delegates from the United States said the U.S. government supports Nepal’s vision for its long-term economic prosperity, including graduation to a middle-income country, and its efforts to keep more workers in Nepal.
Similarly, minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies of Nepal, Damodar Bhandari, said that Nepal needs to pay attention to foreign investment promotion, technology transfer and trade expansion to solve the problem of low productivity and weak competition.
“Nepal’s landlocked status and economic status have caused some serious challenges in international trade,” he said, adding that it is important to increase technical cooperation, capacity building and cooperation between the business communities of both countries.
“The United States’ support in these areas will be invaluable as we strive to increase our trade relations.”.
The TIFA discussions originally began on April 15, 2011. Following the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 established a new country-specific preference program to grant duty-free treatment to Nepal for products covered by 77 Harmonized Tariff Schedule lines (including handicrafts, shawls, and travel goods).
