Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, moderated a panel discussion on Nepal’s trade in large cardamom as part of a "National conference on large cardamom: Present status, opportunities and challenges" on 24 June 2024, organized by Federation of Large Cardamom Entrepreneurs Nepal (FLCEN) with support from Sahaj, CEAPRED and Swisscontact. The panelists included Mr. Indra Chand Bindal (FLCEN), Ms. Parbata Kharel Bimali (FLCEN), Mr. Rabindra Duwadi (Trade and Export Promotion Centre), Mr. Rajendra Sangraula (Nepal Freight Forwarders Association), and Mr. Naresh Lal Shrestha (Export Promotion Committee, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry).  Other participants included cardamom producers, exporters, policy makers, agriculture scientists, academics and journalists.

Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, spoke on geopolitics, trade and investment in a panel discussion held as part of "Symposium on Understanding Issues of Geopolitics, Economy and Stability for Development" on 8 June 2024 in Kathmandu, organized by Neeti Anusandhan Pratishthan, Nepal (NeNAP). Participants included economists, political scientists, students, academics, journalists and security experts.

Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, presented the findings of Nepal Development Finance Assessment 2024 at a workshop organized by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Government of Nepal (GoN), and UNDP, Nepal on 4 June 2024 in Kathmandu. The assessment, done by MoF, with technical support from UNDP, is part of the process of integrated national financing framework and will inform a national financing strategy that the Government of Nepal is formulating. Present in the workshop were GoN officials, UNDP officials, representatives of bilateral and multilateral aid agencies, and diplomatic missions.

Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, spoke on Nepal’s 20-year experience as a WTO member in a panel discussion in a seminar on “20 Years of Nepal’s Accession to the WTO. What have we achieved?" organized by WTO Chairs Programme, Kathmandu University School of Management, in partnership with the World Trade Organization, on 19 May 2024. Dr. Toya Narayan Gyawali, Member Secretary, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal, chaired the session.

South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) in partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) organized a workshop titled “Insights into Informal Cross-Border Trade in Agri-Food Commodities in South Asia” on 16 May 2024 in Kathmandu. The objective of the workshop was to disseminate the findings of the study done by SAWTEE and IFPRI  that examined the dynamics of informal trade in agri-food commodities. The workshop centered on the dynamics of informal trade in agri-food commodities between Nepal and India and India and Bangladesh, shedding light on the nuances of trade patterns, modes, and underlying drivers. View More

On 16 April 2024, SAWTEE organized a roundtable discussion on "Tapping Nepal’s export potential: Firm-level perspectives" in Kathmandu. Considering the urgency to examine ways to create an enabling environment to propel exports, SAWTEE is undertaking a study of the export sector, which also entails a survey of firms to understand the constraints to exporting and the factors that enable exporting. The study is to inform the Asian Development Bank’s Country Partnership Strategy (2025-2029), which seeks to foster export growth and support the development of a new growth model based on competitive businesses producing and exporting a range of goods and services. The main objectives of the roundtable were to get inputs on the study design and to discuss the prospects and challenges faced by firms in breaking into export markets, continuing to export and expanding exports. The participants included representatives from the private sector, covering agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, IT and logistics sectors; trade experts; and ADB representatives.

SAWTEE’s Programme Coordinator, Ms. Dikshya Singh, discussed the barriers faced by women-led businesses in international trade due to gender blind policies in a symposium titled "Breaking Barriers: Nepali Women Entrepreneurs Accessing International Markets" organized by the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs’ Association of Nepal and VRock and Company on 31 March 2024. The symposium was organized on the sidelines of the 7th International Women’s Trade Expo and Symposium 2024, which takes place from 29 March to 2 April in Kathmandu.

Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, presented on "Nepal’s prematurely premature de-industrialization and its search for an industrial policy" in a session at the Second LDC Future Forum in Helsinki on 6 March 2024.  The organizers included the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UN-WIDER), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Participants included government officials, researchers and private sector actors from various least developed countries and development partners.

At the invitation of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), Government of Nepal, Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, on 6 February 2024 gave a research-based talk on “Nepal-Bangladesh trade: opportunities and challenges” in the presence of the commerce secretary, the industry secretary, and joint secretaries, under-secretaries and officers of the ministry.

Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, delivered a lecture on the Nepali economy and international trade issues to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), Government of Nepal, in Lalitpur on 30 January 2024 as part of a training programme organized by Agriculture Information and Training Centre, MoALD.