Nepal to open five service sectors

Nepal has selected its five service sectors to open for the SAARC member countries.
"Among the service sectors within Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS), Nepal has opened Trade, Tourism, Information Technology (IT), Health and Education for the SAARC member countries to invest in Nepal,” said joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Toya Narayan Gyawali, after the Eighth meeting of Expert Group on SAARC Agreement on Trade Service that concluded in Kathmandu.
Nepal Trade Integration Strategy 2010 has identified 19 products and services having maximum export potentials.Seven agro-based products — large cardamom, ginger, honey, lentils, tea, noodles, medicinal and essential oils — five industrial products — handmade paper, silver jewellery, iron and steel, pashmina, and wool products — and seven service sectors — tourism, labour, health, education, IT and BPO, engineering and hydro-electricity have been featured in the NTIS list for the promotion of these sectors as they have export potential.
"Service sector is more complicated than the trading sector therefore we are holding direct discussions with the stakeholders to make it be easier for negotiations," Gyawali, said, adding that Nepal is going to participate in the Trading Service Expert meeting — after the two-day meeting in Kathmandu that concluded today — that is scheduled for February 13 in Pakistan.
"We will have a series of meetings on different sector and trading services which will be followed by the SAARC ministerial meeting in Pakistan,” he said.
Nepal has already agreed to open up 70 sub-sectors of services for other member countries under WTO rules and the meeting might decide on additional sub-sectors of service for foreign investors.
The South Asian regional block’s member states have already made their initial offer to open over 170 sub-sectors of service for foreign investments under the WTO norms. The 16th SAARC summit in Bhutan in 2010 had decided to introduce service sector in the SAFTA, which would incorporate only goods for regional preferential trade.
Joint secretary Gyawali and undersecretary Binod Acharya from Ministry of Commerce and Supplies participated in the eight meeting of Expert Group on SAARC Agreement on Trade Service in Kathmandu.