A seven-member Nepali delegation left for the Doha, of Quatar, to attend the fourth ministerial meet of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), scheduled to be held from November 9-13.
Purna Bahadur Khadka, Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, heads the delegation team which includes Bhanu Prasad Acharya, Secretary at the ministry, Prachanda Man Shrestha, Chief of the WTO cell in the ministry and Suresh Man Shrestha, Under Secretary at the ministry.
Besides, Posh Raj Pandey, Programme Manager of Nepal. Accession to WTO and Rajendra Kumar Khetan, Second Vice President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry are also participants from Nepal.
The delegation, it is learnt, would be joined by United Nations Permanent Representative to Geneva, Dr. Shambhu Ram Simkada and Nepali Ambassador to Qatar, Shyamanandra Suman.
Nepali delegales at the WTO meet according to a source at the Finance Ministry, is to raise its issues of concern on the strength of observer’s status. As other Least Developed Countries Nepal, too, is to put up vigorously issues like complicated accession process, especially in the backdrop that no least developed country has been able to access WTO membership since it came into existence in 1995.
Moreover, Nepal is to demand effective implementation of the whole gamut of the WTO agreements, the source adds. Similarly, Nepal would press the developed economies to work in a manner that can complement the achievements of the Third United Nation Conference on Least Developed Countries that was held in Brussels early this year. Furthermore, Nepal would voice on allowing duty free and auto free market access to products of the LCDs and developing countries, the source says.
Apart from WTO meet, the Nepali delegation would also hold informal discussion with different WTO member countries.