WCP Nepal-AIB South Asia Conference begins

KATHMANDU: A two-day WCP Nepal-AIB South Asia Conference 2024 kicked off in Kathmandu on Sunday.

More than 60 experts and participants from various countries are attending the conference that is expected to hold comprehensive interactions on the theme of ‘Global Trade and South Asia: Competitiveness, Value Chains and ESG’, according to a statement issued by the Society of Economic Journalists-Nepal.

Addressing the inaugural session of the conference, Professor Achyut Wagle, Registrar of Kathmandu University and Chairperson of WCP-Nepal, said that South Asian countries need to create effective forward and backward linkage in the value chain of their products to get benefits from global trade.

Likewise, Professor S Raghunath, chairperson of AIB-SAC Executive Board, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, said collaborative efforts of South Asian Countries were needed to develop an effective value chain in the global market. “The interdependence between countries of the region in the value chain calls for their collaborative efforts,” he said, emphasizing on promotion of local products through innovation and utilization of intellectual property rights.

Also speaking on the occasion, Narayan Prasad Sharma Duwadi, secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said that the government will take the suggestions from the researchers and scholars positively and take the initiative to implement them to bridge the policy gaps seen in addressing Nepal’s high trade deficit.

Dr Xiangchen Zhang, deputy director general of the WTO, said that the WTO is focusing on capacity enhancement in different sectors and levels to facilitate global trade. Pointing to the context of recent changes in the scenario of world trade, he promised that initiatives would be taken for the continuation of facilities related to the trade of least developed countries.