SAWTEE and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) organized a round table discussion on the annual
flagship publication of the UNESCAP ‘Economic and Social Survey of Asia and The
Pacific 2016’. The publication focuses on nurturing productivity for inclusive
growth and sustainable development.
Dr. Sudip Ranjan Basu, Economic Affairs Officer, UNESCAP
highlighted the fact that there has been slow down of productivity gains in recent
years; and amid the weakening of decent employment, reduction of poverty and
inequality have emerged as key challenges in the Asian economies. He added that
productivity and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are closely interlinked
and we need growth with increase in productivity to achieve the targets set by the
SDGs. He also stressed on the need for regional cooperation and integration to foster
economic development.
Speaking at the programme, Mr. Deependra Bahadur Kshetry, Former
Vice Chairman at the National Planning Commission, Nepal and Former Governor,
Nepal Rastra Bank, said that poverty alleviation is the primary objective of
the upcoming SDGs. However, he stressed that our policymakers should be mindful
of the fact that in this era of globalization economic outcomes of our economic
partners are more likely to have cascading effects on Nepal’s own economy. He
also said that the at present Nepalese economy is reliant on import based consumerism
fuelled by remittances which is happening at the cost of the productive labour
forces.
Similarly, Dr Shankar P. Sharma, Former Vice Chairman at the
National Planning Commission, Nepal said that lack of technical skills in the
labour force and absence of integration with regional and global value chains
have negatively affected the country’s labour productivity and job market.
Therefore, we need to have a positive transformational growth focusing on high
employment and high productivity sectors.
Mr Shekhar Golchha, Vice President, Federation of Nepalese
Chamber of Commerce (FNCCI) highlighted the problems faced by the private
sector in the country. He said that the two important sectors for the Nepalese
economy i.e. the agriculture sector and the industrial sector have not been
able to attain any growth or create employment opportunities in recent years
because of poor policies, unsupportive laws and poor infrastructure which has
adversely affected the competitiveness of these sectors in the global
economy.
The Chief Guest of the programme, Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Vice
Chairman of National Planning Commission said that we need to be clear on how
to raise productivity of our labour force. For this he said that we need to
take forward efficiency and inclusion in an optimum manner, striking a balance
between labour productivity and wages.
He further added that adequate market instruments should be in place to
make Nepal’s growth more inclusive.
Chairman of SAWTEE as well as the chair of the programme, Dr.
Posh Raj Pandey, suggested that it is difficult for a small economy like Nepal
to be economically independent. In that case, Nepal should aim to create
predictable dependency so we can focus in increasing productivity and
efficiency to achieve a sustained economic growth. He also highlighted that
Nepal can benefit from the growth in the region and further suggested that focusing
on proper implementation of existing regional trade agreements in South Asia,
such as the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and SAARC Agreement on Trade in
Services (SATIS) should be a priority.
About 30 participants from the government, academia, think-tanks,
private sector, etc. participated in the round table.
Programme Agenda
Presentation:
Dr. Sudip Ranjan Basu
Policy Dialogue Economic and Social Survey of Asia
and the Pacific 2016
