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No significant expectations fulfilled by Govt - Mr Pandey, GAN

21 Jul '09
2 min read

In the pre-2005 quota period, Nepal had a booming readymade garment exports business to the markets of the US. But after the dismantling of the quota era, shipments of apparels began to slide and the economic crisis which began from last year has made the situation worse. In the latest data released by the Garment Association of Nepal (GAN), apparel exports to the US have slipped by nearly 50 percent in the first six months of 2009, when corresponded with the same period of 2008.

Fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Mr Udaya Raj Pandey, First Vice President, Garment Association of Nepal and began by asking him the main reasons for this downslide, to which he said, “The main reasons for the slowdown are; the quota phase out that took place after the year 2005, deepening world financial crisis and political instability in Nepal which has led to decrease in the confidence our buyers put on us”.

Next we asked him that since the textile and labour sector is a very labour intensive sector, to what extent has the government of Nepal fulfilled their expectations, to which he replied by saying, “We have been regularly voicing our opinions to government bodies regarding export related matters and we have asked for tax free status in exports and development of export processing zones plus separate labour laws for garment industry and although we have had regular interaction with the government bodies but significant steps have not be taken as yet in these matters”.

Nepal may be included in the new US Act which will help the sector to export to that country at zero-duty status. To conclude the interview we asked him as to in what way Nepal would be able to take advantage of the status, to which he excitedly said, “On an average the duty levied by the United States on imported garments is about 17 percent, hence if Nepal is given the duty free privilege our goods are going to be 17 percent cheaper than those exported from other countries and will also help our products to be competitive and increase the demand for our goods”.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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