Govt renews consultations with farmers for developing ADS

The government has started fresh consultations with local farmers and farmer´s groups in the mid- and far-western regions in order to collect their inputs for Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS), a long-term vision document that will chart the course of country´s agriculture sector for the next two decades.
Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) started the consultations afresh after the government restructured the steering committee, incorporating farmers´ representatives, and decided to adopt field-based feedback approach to develop the ADS, scrapping the previous assessment report.
“The new steering committee, which was formed after intense protest from different farmers associations and civil society leaders, has completed consultations for fresh assessment in the two regions,” an official from the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MOAD) told Republica.
The committee would hold similar consultations with farmers in the other regions of the country soon, said Prabhakar Pathak, joint secretary at the MoAD.
Through the consultations, the committee is fundamentally generating farmers´ perspectives on areas wherein the government failed while implementing Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP): 1995-2015.
The APP, much-regarded as a reform-oriented vision document, had among others scrapped the government subsidy and promised reforms in supply chain of agricultural inputs and technology so that farmers could access quality fertilizers, seeds and equipments easily.
As concerned officials admit, APP remained a total failure in transforming the agriculture sector and farmers´ lives. Through the fresh consultations the committee hopes to generate new programs and inputs for future policy guidelines.
“We are raising issues such as land-reform, agriculture revolution and demands of farmers in the new consultation meetings,” said Prem Dhangal, general secretary of the Nepal Peasants Federation (NPF).
Meanwhile, referring to the complete restart of the ADS process and fresh consultations being held at different regional level, the MoAD has said that the budget allocated for the ADS will now be insufficient. The government had allocated US$ 2 million (about Rs 160 million) for developing ADS.
“The consultations also has raised the cost by Rs 2 million. Hence, we have requested the government to provide us with the additional sum that was not included in the previously planned budget,” said Pathak.
The government has received assistance from various donors, including Asian Development Bank, World Bank and United State Agency for International Development (USAID), among others, for developing the ADS.
The ADS, which will replace the APP, will deal on cross-cutting issues like irrigation, agriculture inputs and other crucial sub-sectors of the agriculture. “The APP failed to address the core problems of the farmers. We want to make sure ADS does not repeat the same history,” Dhangal said, referring to perennial scarcity of seeds and fertilizers in the country.

Nepal fails to report country policy updates at WTO in time

The government has dragged its feet to timely report the country´s policy updates to the fellow World Trade Organization (WTO) members even as Nepal´s commitment at the Organization required it to report them by April, 2012.
Though submission of such report, under which Nepal needs to clearly inform the changes and update it effects in trade and other national policies, is not a binding obligations, its compliance is considered crucial in sending a message that the country is investment and trade friendly.
“Submitting policy briefs on time builds a good image of the country among the other member in the WTO regime. Sadly, apathy to adhere to this moral obligation have repeatedly portrayed our image negatively,” said Dr Posh Raj Pandey, former member of the National Planning Commission (NPC), who was also engaged in the process of country´s accession to the WTO.
Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) supposed to carry out this task admitted of the adverse impact. But they failed to give convincing reasons behind the delay.
“We have already started the preparations and are trying to forward the policy updates at the earliest,” said Ravi Bhattarai, under secretary of MoCS. Though he too remained silent on the reason behind Nepal consistently failing to comply with the obligations, knowledgeable sources said lack of zeal and dedications of the concerned staff themselves were the main reason.
“The reality is that maintaining a good working relationship with the multilateral trading partners is simply not in the priority of the Ministry. Hence, not even the top MoCS care whether the ministry carried out tasks as committed at the WTO,” said the source.
This is not the first time the country missed complying with the WTO commitments since it joined the multilateral trading regime in 2004.
Records of the MoCS shows the country had failed to enact competition and other laws and update trade and other policies on time in the initial years of membership. Though the country has presently fulfilled almost all binding commitments, it has always been dragging its feet to comply with commitments that are not compulsory, but exist as moral obligations.
“Very recently, the Ministry had missed the deadline to submit trade policy review as well,” said Dr Pandey. Although the WTO commitment schedule had sought Nepal to submit the trade policy review in December, 2011, the MoCS did so only in February 2012.
Under the WTO norms, all WTO members need to submit their policy updates to the organization so that other member countries can clearly know the status of tariff lines, rules and regulations related with goods and services they trade on.
Such transparency is considered crucial in maintaining effectiveness of the multilateral trading.

Soil test for metro railway complete

Following the government´s endorsement of the preliminary inception report of the metro railway in Kathmandu Valley, the consulting companies have completed the soil test, which shows how the rail track should be laid -- underground, on the surface or overhead -- in major areas including Ratnapark, Kalanki and Sinamangal. Traffic survey in major junctions inside the Valley, meanwhile, is in progress.

The companies, however, haven´t submitted the soil test results. “The consulting companies have only submitted interim report of the feasibility study,” an official at the Department of Railways (DoR) told Republica on Thursday. 

“Soil test report and traffic survey report will come together.”

Korea Transport Institution, Chungsuk Engineering Company, Kunwa Consulting and Engineering Company, Korea Rail Network Authority and two local companies BDA Nepal Private Limited and EMRC Private Limited are conducting feasibility study of the project.

“The companies have to submit two interim reports before submitting the draft report of the feasibility study,” Rajeshwar Man Singh, superintendent engineer at the DoR said, confirming the progress. “They submitted the first interim report.” 

According to Singh, the first interim report, however, doesn´t provide any conclusive result. “It is a kind of a progress report,” Singh said. “The second interim report gives the result of the soil test and statistics on traffic survey.” 

The metro railway connects various locations in the valley via a 66-km track with 5 lines and 31 stations. A complete feasibility study report of the project is expected within the next six months. “Once the feasibility study report is ready then we can estimate the total cost of the metro railway,” Singh said.

The government has paid Rs 60.5 million to the firms to conduct the feasibility study. The government had approved the inception report last March and cleared the way to conduct the feasibility study for the companies. 

The project requires technical precision and dedicated power system to ensure uninterrupted power supply and has been listed in the national pride project by the government.

The government last May handed over the project along with 13 other mega projects to the Investment Board.

SAARC commerce secys agree to expedite tariff liberalization

Commerce secretaries of SAARC countries have agreed to speed up the process of tariff liberalization and integration of the region through harmonization of communication, transport, capital market and movement of people.

The 15th meeting of Committee on Economic Cooperation (CEC) under South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held in the Maldives this week also held discussion issues of least developed countries (LDCs) and non-LDCs. 

“The meeting was fruitful toward making the regional market more integrated,” Naindra Prasad Upadhaya, joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supply (MoCS), who was also present in the meeting, told Republica on Wednesday. “The officials from the region have agreed to harmonize customs operation that will lead to the smooth movement of goods and cargos in the region.”

Officials from the LDCs of the region including Nepal and Bangladesh urged officials of non-LDCs to remove items that are export interest of LDCs from their sensitive list, said Upadhyaya.

The meeting also reviewed the of status sensitive list and agreed to work together to shorten it in the near future. 

SAARC member countries have included products that they do not want to trade at zero tariff under South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) pact in the sensitive list. The working group of SAFTA that met in Kathmandu last month to shorten the list had failed to make any headway after the countries remained divided over the modalities of shortening the list. 

The two-day meeting also touched on issues related to connectivity, communication and movement of people in the region.

Private sector to meet UP chief minister over herb export row

A delegation from Nepali private sector is meeting Akhilesh Yadav, chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in a bid to discuss issues related to trade and transit between the two countries including the trade of medicinal herbs that has come to grinding halt since the last three months from the Nepalgunj customs.

“The meeting will focus mainly on connectivity and quarantine,” Bhawani Rana, vice president of Federation of Nepali Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) told Republica on Tuesday. “However, we will raise the acts of state-government of UP which has prevented export of herbs from Nepalgunj customs since three months against the spirit of bilateral trade treaty.” 

The medicinal herbs worth around Rs 350 million has been stuck in the Nepalgunj customs after UP introduced a new law contravening the bilateral trade treaty between the two countries. 

According to Rana, who will lead the team, the meeting is aimed at resolving the problems Nepali exporters face in different areas of border between Nepal and India. “We will also raise the issues created by different laws of state-government of UP,” Rana said. 

For instance, export of medicinal herbs is at a standstill following the UP government´s introduction of new law compelling exporters to get license from Department of Forest (DoF) of state government to export medicinal herbs. 

Such a provision was introduced against the spirit of bilateral trade treaty between Nepal and India that ensures free movement of all goods of Indian or Nepali origin in each other´s territory, without subjecting them to any quantitative restrictions, licensing or permit systems.

The export has not resumed even after the exporters knock the door of the India embassy in Kathmandu. Embassy officials had said that the export would resumed by Monday after the exporters appealed for facilitation last week. According to Thapa, 7,000 to 7,500 tons of medicinal herbs are exported from the Nepalgunj customs point to India.

Don't put assets of sick industries under the hammer, NRB told

In a bid to protect sick industries, the government has requested Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to not allow commercial banks to auction off assets and collaterals pledged by them.

According to a high-level official at the Ministry of Industry (MoI), the ministry sent a letter to this connection to the central bank a couple of days ago. In the letter, the ministry has requested NRB to not let commercial banks auction off assets of sick industries until the government implement special packages promised to them.

“We are in the process of identifying sick industries,” the official said, adding, “We have requested NRB to stop auctioning off of their property as per the request of those industries.”

The official said the ministry sent a letter to the central bank following strong pressure from some industrialists. He, however, refused to disclose the name of the industrialists.

The industry ministry, which is entrusted to implement programs to revive sick industries, has formed a technical committee to study and finalize the actual number of sick industries in the country.

“The technical committee issued a public notice last week, asking all the industries to register if they term themselves ´sick´,” the official told Republica.

The industries have to register their names by the end of this month. The committee will then study the actual situation of those industries. 

According to the official, the ministry formed sick industries unit and the technical committee after the cabinet approved the report of the high-level task force that was formed to revive and rehabilitate sick-industries about seven months back. 

Meanwhile, the ministry has requested Rs 2.6 million from the finance ministry for the technical committee. 

The government has announced slew of relief measures for sick industries like tax waiver, extension of bank loan repayment date, bank loan restructuring and interest amount waiver among others. Industrialists have been pressing the government for early implementation of relief measures.

“We hope banks won´t auction off assets of any industry until we finalize the list of sick industries and publish their names in the gazette,” the official said.

CNI, HCI join hands for green economy

The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI), a civil society organization working in the field of climate change, on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together for green economy and less carbon emission. 

According to a press release issued on Sunday, the agreement between the two organizations will be a step forward to work in the area of climate change and functioning. 

“Government and all sectors should come together to create incentives through practical plans to help the Nepalese industries at this formative stage when they are struggling to move towards a greener path,” the release quoted Binod Chaudhary, president of CNI, as saying in the MoU signing ceremony.

According to release, the MoU would help build the capacity of CNI members on issues related to climate change and climate financing with the purpose of putting the private sector in the leadership role.

Prashant Singh, CEO of the HCI, highlighted the benefits of going green for the Nepalese industries. “This partnership will bring concrete results in a relatively short span of time,” the release quoted Singh as saying.