Nepal-US TIFA meeting postponed to Sept
Fibre2fashion News Desk | February 13, 2012 (Nepal)
Nepal-US TIFA meeting postponed to Sept
The meeting between Nepal and the US under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) has been rescheduled to last week of September 2012.
The meeting of Nepal-US Council on Trade and Investment (NUSCTI), under TIFA, was to earlier take place in March this year and both sides had increased their preparations for finalizing the potential agenda for the meeting that is considered crucial for bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.
However, the postponement of the meeting would mean that the Nepali garment and Pashmina exporters would have wait for six months more to get additional benefits for preferential access to the US market.
The TIFA agreement was signed in April 2011 and it states that the NUSCTI can meet once a year to discuss bilateral trade issues.
At the upcoming meeting, Nepali entrepreneurs are expecting that the Government would work out a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to improve garment and Pashmina item exports to the US, exports of which have been declining since 2000.
For some time, Nepali entrepreneurs have been pushing for Generalized System of Preference (GSP) facility for Nepali garments and Pashmina products in the US.
