Nepal eyes Chinese markets

Kathmandu (Nepal) : Nepal stated that China has extended a huge market next door if the Himalayan nation is able to exploit proximity with China.

Nepal's Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun said China is ready to offer huge market next door for Nepal, China's news agency Xinhua quoted.

China is the second largest trading partner of Nepal after India.

As of first half of the current fiscal year that began in mid-July 2017, Nepal has imported goods worth 656.86 million U.S. dollars from China against exports worth 15.19 million U.S. dollars, according to Nepal's Department of Customs.

Responding on the trade deficit with China, Vice President Pun said that the population of China next door offered a large market for Nepali products which Nepal should be able to cash in on, Xinhua quoted.

China has also offered duty-free access to more than 8,000 Nepali goods.

Speaking at the inaugural session of meeting of the Nepal Trans Himalaya Border Commerce Association, an umbrella organisation of the traders involved in Nepal-China trade, Pun said Nepal could achieve economic development and prosperity by boosting exports like China did, Xinhua quoted.

Currently, Rasuwagadhi-Geelong is the only border point operating between the two countries for the international trade.

The border point was affected by a devastating earthquake in 2015, but reopened a few months later.