December 18: The United States has expressed willingness to provide further technical assistance to Nepal to increase trade and investment under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) between the two countries to promote preferential trade.

The US made such remark during the fifth meeting of the United States-Nepal Council on Trade and Investment held virtually on December 15.

A joint statement issued by the US and Nepal says that the two sides held discussions to promote expanded bilateral trade and investment in both goods and services.

The meeting was co-chaired by Christopher Wilson, Assistant United States Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, and Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies of Nepal.

During the meeting, representatives from both countries discussed a range of bilateral trade and investment-related issues covered under the TIFA, including, among others, customs and trade facilitation, intellectual property, digital trade and e-commerce, labor, financial services, investment promotion, trade in agriculture products, and utilization of the Nepal Trade Preference Program, the statement added.

The United States affirmed its engagement with Nepal on its efforts to foster innovation and investment through improvements in intellectual property protection and enforcement.

Nepal provided an update on its initiatives to increase intellectual property protection through legislative changes.

Recognizing the important role of digital trade in fostering economic growth, Nepal and the United States agreed to explore ways to deepen engagement on policy developments affecting the digital economy.

According to the statement, the United States welcomed Nepal’s efforts to promote internationally recognized worker rights and the implementation of Nepal’s labor laws.

Nepal and the United States also discussed the importance of fully utilizing US preferential trade benefits for select products from Nepal, available through December 31, 2025 as a result of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.

During the meeting, Nepal reportedly provided an update on recent investment policy reform initiatives taken to improve its investment climate, and emphasized its interest in attracting additional foreign investment from the United States.

Both governments pledged their commitment to deepen their engagement in these issue areas over the coming months in inter-sessional meetings and to hold the 6^th TIFA Council Meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal as soon as travel conditions permit.