Nepal to withdraw change request

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Dec 26: Nepal has rolled back its plan to get the newly agreed transit routes incorporated in the new bilateral Transit Treaty due renewal next week after it failed to hold crucial talks for finalizing nitty-gritty of their operations with the southern neighbor due to differences over a provision on additional lock system between different ministries.

“We should have finalized the details and cleared formalities by now if we were to include the new routes in the treaty by now. But the talks haven´t been held so far, and the treaty is expiring on January 5, 2013,” said a highly placed official at Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). Given the situation, the government has now prepared to get Nepal-India Transit Treaty renewed in the form that it exists presently under the provision of automatic renewal. “We sent a formal proposal to renew the treaty without any change in its content to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) on Monday. Once the PM, who also looks after the MoCS, approves it, we will forward it to the cabinet for endorsement,” said Lal Mani Joshi, secretary at the MoCS, told Republica. Renewal of treaty without any change would mean Nepal would not be able to utilize the five recently agreed transit routes, fully operationalize Vishakapatnam Sea Port -- the new port opened for Nepal´s third country trade, and operate cargo train between inland container depot (ICD) in Birgunj and Bangladesh. Officials at the MoCS have been pushing for earliest operations of the new routes as they would have enhanced speed of movement of cargoes in transit (as Vishakapatnam is more efficient port than Kolkata), thereby reducing cost. Likewise, operations of rail transportation would have greatly smoothened country´s bilateral trade with Bangladesh. The MoCS officials blamed the delay to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). “We had unofficially discussed on the changes on the treaty with the Indian counterpart and they had agreed as well. However, despite our repeated requests, MoFA neither moved that file officially to India nor coordinated that much needed bilateral meeting, which was necessary to finalize the nitty-gritty,” said the MoCS official. Top officials at the MoFA agreed as well. And they attributed such lack of cooperation by the ministry to the strong objection of Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha to a provision of the draft that allowed India to impose additional lock on containers destined to Nepal. “We operated with single-lock system for decades; what´s problem with it now? India´s proposal to impose additional lock goes against the spirit of internationally agreed transit rights. Hence, Minister Shrestha is against it,” stated a MoFA official, requesting anonymity. MoFA believes double lock would not only curb Nepal´s transit rights but also add hassles to Nepal´s third country trade cargoes in India.

Agency accused of trying to dupe 292 over Canada jobs

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Dec 12: In an apparent attempt to dupe 292 Nepali job-seekers offering lucrative jobs in Canada, one of the oldest Nepali manpower companies was found to have submitted fake documents including workers demand letter seeking prior approval from the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) to initiate recruiting process.

The 27 years old Everest International Manpower Supply Service based in Satdobato Lalitpur- sought prior-approval from the DoFE on Sunday to publish advertisement of the falsified vacancies of different jobs in a shipping company operating in both Canada and the UK, in an apparent bid to rack in hundreds of millions of rupees from the unemployed Nepali youths.

According to the documents submitted at DoFE, a London-based Manpower UK Robert Ltd, which was found non-existent, brokered the jobs in a shipping company through the Nepali manpower agency.

The demand letter states that the shipping company offered jobs for waiters, waitresses, room cleaners, caregiver, bar boys, receptionists, office cleaners, painters, carpenters, fish packers, ship cleaners, laundry men, barbers and assistant cooks. Of the offered jobs, 246 were for male and 46 for female workers.

Salary offer for the post ranged from US$ 2,800 and US$3,500 per month excluding overtime allowance under the two-year job contracts depending on the job catagories. The agency has, however tried to collect Rs 136,000 per person for the Canadian jobs which includes Rs 5,000 in service charge and Rs 131,000 in other charges-in line with the government-set charge for Canadian jobs.

The job demand letter from the employer company, which the Nepali agency submitted for prior approval to send workers to Canada, was proved fake after DoFE officials inquired about the authenticity of the document with Nepalese embassy in Canada.

“In response to our query, our ambassador to Canada Bhoj Raj Ghimire, who is currently in Kathmandu, told us that the document submitted to us by the manpower agency is fake,” Purna Chandra Bhattarai, director general of DoFE told Republica on Tuesday.

After the astonishing revelation, the DoFE is preparing to file case against the Nepal´s second oldest recruitment agency.

Resident of Godawari, Lalitpur,Uddin Bahadur Rai, the proprietor of the agency had submitted the demand letter undersigned by fake signature of ambassador Ghimire along with other sham documents such as authorization letter by the employer company, labor contract letters, among others, to secure the prior approval to initiate the process to select the workers, officials said.

Initial investigation by the DoFE into the fraud case revealed that Rai is also the ex-captain of British Gorkha Army who had already lived for around three decades in the UK.

“I secured the demands for worker from the personal relation of the employer company which is headquartered in London and operate in Canada also,” claimed Rai, who was summoned by DoFE for inquiry on Tuesday.

Shortage of IC prompts gold smuggling to India

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Dec 9: Indian Currency (IC) has been sold for Nepali Rs 168 in black markets of southern Nepali bordering towns leading to smuggling of gold to India, eventually worsening the supplies of the yellow metal in the domestic market.
“On one hand gold has been imported illegally from India and China to ease the supply in local market, on the other hand some traders are smuggling gold to the southern neighbor for IC, which has been sold in black market in bordering towns,” Tej Ratna Shakya, President of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association (Negosida) told Republica on Sunday.

Lower Indian prices jolt Nepali pashmina

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE KATHMANDU, Dec 9: The Nepali pashmina industry, which was just starting to enjoy a rebound in exports after almost a decade-long slump, has been jolted again by a new challenge. In recent months, a growing number of Pashmina shawl producers and exporters in India have started offering international buyers prices that are over 30 percent cheaper than Nepali rates in a bid to lure them away, said Nepali exporters. “Worse still for us, they have started to snatch away our traditional buyers,” Pushpa Man Shrestha, president of Nepal Pashmina Industries Association (NPIA), told Republica. “In a recent talk with me, Italian importers who have bought from me for a long time complained that our pashmina products were more expensive than Indian pashmina by over 30 percent,” he stated. Shrestha elaborated that he is under severe pressure to cut costs. If costs do not decrease, he knows he will not be able to retain buyers, and his exports will be in a new downward spiral. Shrestha is not alone in facing such grim prospects. Other exporters said they also have started getting similar complaints from overseas buyers. Some said their buyers have started placing orders in India and others expressed fears they will soon lose their traditional buyers owing to the huge price difference. “Thriving Pashmina factories in India have not only threatened our overseas markets, but also squeezed the market within India itself,” said NPIA´s Shrestha. India has been an important market for Nepali pashmina products for the past one and half decades. Entrepreneurs said the increasing production capacity of India and a rising number of pashmina producers offering similar quality at lower prices has emerged as the biggest ever challenge faced by the Nepali industry. “This can have a devastating impact,” said Shrestha, expressing fears that Nepali entrepreneurs would simply not be able to retain their international markets if they fail to reduce cost of production and increase value addition. Fresh export data also shows a double-digit decline in the export of pashmina from Nepal. According to Trade and Export Promotion Center (TEPC) data, the export of Nepali chyangra (mountain goat) pashmina shawls dropped by 17.5 percent during the first quarter of fiscal year 2012/13, compared to the same period last year, despite international promotional efforts by entrepreneurs. Nepal´s pashmina export during the period stood at Rs 519.35 million, whereas the corresponding figure for the first quarter last year was Rs 629.25 million. However, Shrestha said the seasonal demand for pashmina for the upcoming Christmas and New Year has not gone down. With the introduction of a collective trade mark for Nepali chyangra pashmina a couple of years back, Nepali producers and exporters had expected that exports would jump in the international market. In an effort to promote the export of pashmina shawls overseas, the government has included pashmina in the list of highly prioritized products under its Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) - a policy document that focuses on the promotion of exports of high export potential. International Trade Center (ITC), joint the joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations, has also agreed to extend support worth Rs 170 million to promote pashmina through increased production, quality processing and higher exports. The support is aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of chyangra pashmina by establishing backward linkages with the value-chain among chyangra farmers, wool processors and exporters, along with forward linkages including promotional activities such as publicity for the trade mark, international marketing and advertising in global media. The ITC has been supporting least developed countries in product development and production promotion to strengthen their supply capacity. “We expect that with ITC support we will be able to expand our market in the long run,” said Shrestha.
Published on 2012-12-09 04:00:26

Nepal seeks renewal with changes

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Dec 6: Nepal has urged India to renew the bilateral Transit Treaty by adding five new trade and transit routes so that the country could start use of routes considered important for giving impetus to trade with other countries, including Bangladesh.

Existing Nepal-India Transit Treaty is set to expire on January 5, 2013. The treaty has a provision of automatic renewal, however, either side needs to approach the other for renewal if it wants to add or remove certain provisions.

“We have already sent a request to India for renewal of the Transit Treaty with changes,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). He told Republica that the ministry through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has also requested the southern neighbor to hold secretary-level talks so that negotiations on changes that Nepal has sought could be concluded soon for timely renewal of the treaty.

Govt prepares action plan to promote exports

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Nov 30: The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) has approved an action plan for developing and giving a boost to the export of 19 potential items that have been identified by the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS), a government´s blueprint to promote exports, as highly potential exportable products.

The action plan targets to increase export of each of those items to one billion rupees within a year.

“The work plan has been formulated in line with the government´s Immediate Action Plan for Governance and Economic Reform. It was forwarded to the Prime Minister´s Office a couple of days ago from our ministry for approval,” Toya Narayan Gyawali, joint secretary at the MoCS told Republica on Thursday.