Nepal

The government of Nepal requested to join the IF in 2002, after which the IFWG decided to prepare a DTIS (Nepal Trade and Competitiveness Study) for this country. The groundwork for this study was laid through a preliminary mission in September 2002 and a full field mission in October 2002, during which consultants gathered data and conducted extensive interviews. The work was carried out under the guidance of the National Steering Committee.

The Nepal Trade and Competitiveness Study included the following topics:

• Country background

• Trade regime and performance

• Accession to the WTO

• Price competitiveness and productivity

• Facilitating trade: customs and transport

• Labour markets

• Regulatory framework and foreign direct investment

• Case studies (carpet industry, garments, tea processing, agriculture and tourism)

• Action matrix

The Nepal national workshop took place on 27 June 2003. Participants included representatives from the government, private sector, labour unions, academics and donors. During parallel sessions, the following cross-sectoral topics were discussed:

• Trade policy, institutions and WTO accession,

• Labour market policies,

• Trade facilitation,

• Investment climate and foreign direct investment.

After the workshop, the government convened a donors’ meeting, during which the results of the workshop were discussed.

The main recommendations of the workshop have been incorporated in a revised version of the study and action matrix, which were validated by the cabinet in August 2003. In November 2003, a dissemination meeting took place, during which the matrix and its priorities were discussed. At this meeting, several donors expressed their interest in becoming involved in follow-up activities.

A high level Inter-ministerial Steering Committee was set up to coordinate the IF implementation process.

In April 2004, the Nepal Development forum took place. This forum included a special session on trade issues, strengthening the linkages between the PRSP and trade policy.

The World Bank prepared Nepal’s Country Assistance Strategy for 2004 onwards. This Strategy refers to the IF exercise and as improving competitiveness is an important component of the growth agenda, the Bank closely works with Nepal’s other development partners supporting follow-up of the key IF recommendations.

A number of DTIS recommendations on trade issues (export promotion, investment, WTO and regional integration) were reflected in the May 2003 PRSP.

Three Window II projects have been launched:

·       Institutional trade capacity building

·       Enhancement of institutional trade capacity I

·       Enhancement of institutional trade capacity II

Some IF priority projects were taken up by GTZ and multilateral agencies.

IF Focal Point	Mr. Purushottam Ojha Secretary Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MOICS) Singha Durbar Kathmandu, Nepal
IF Donor Facilitator	Ms. Anne-Isabelle Degryse-Blateau UNDP
World Bank Contact	Ms. Birgit Hansl Economist, South Asia Region Tel.: +1 202 458 8131 Mr. Roshan Darshan Bajracharya World Bank Kathmandu
UNDP Contact	Mr. Deepak Shrestha Programme Officer Pro-Poor Policy and Sustainable Livelihood Unit UNDP, Nepal Tel.: +977 1 55 23 200 ext. 1020 Fax: +977 1 55 23 991/ 55 23 986 http://www.undp.org.np
Aide-Mémoire
Concept Paper
Diagnostic Trade Integration Study	DTIS (22 October 2003) (pdf - 737k)
Action Matrix	Action Matrix (pdf - 50k)
Date of Workshop	27 June 2003
Implementation Meeting	November 2003
Approved Window II Projects	00038873 (pdf - 49k)
Monitoring Matrix
EIF Correspondence	In-country preparations for the EIF (pdf - 35k)