Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, presented on “Diversification of Nepal’s large cardamom exports” in a meeting held at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), Government of Nepal, Singha Durbar on 4 March 2025, as part of an initiative taken by Federation of Large Cardamom Entrepreneurs Nepal (FLCEN) with support from Sahaj/NAMDP II. Present on the occasion were the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Mr. Damodar Bhandari; other MoICS officials; office-bearers and members of FLCEN (cardamom producers and exporters); and representatives of NAMDP.

SAWTEE has completed a study on Nepal-Australia economic relations. The study is aimed at those interested to know about economic ties between Australia and Nepal; the economic significance of the ties for the two countries; and the prospects and challenges in advancing the relationship. It dissects the Nepal-Australia economic relationship, covering goods, services, migration and remittances, and investment. It describes the trends and patterns in these areas, and identifies broad potential and opportunities as well as challenges and constraints. While the bulk of it is based on secondary data, it also presents the views of the Nepali private sector.

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South Asia Watch on Trade Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) organized a validation workshop titled “Tapping Nepal’s Export Potential” on 28 January 2025, as part of its ongoing efforts to examine and enhance Nepal’s export potential. The workshop focused on validating the preliminary findings of SAWTEE’s study on the export sector, which explores the constraints to exporting, enabling factors, and growth opportunities for goods and services exports, particularly in the IT and tourism sectors. The analysis of the goods sector is based on a firm-level survey.

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Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, participated in the 65th Conference of Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) in Bengaluru, India. He was a panelist in a panel on Dynamics of Emerging Labour Markets and Changing Industrial Relations, organized by South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) and Institute of Human Development India on 10 Jan 2025. He also chaired a technical session on Service Sector Employment: Structure, Trends and Implications.

Kshitiz Dahal, Senior Research Officer, SAWTEE, participated in the interaction programme between policy think tanks in Kathmandu and the BIMSTEC Secretariat organized by the Policy Research Institute (PRI) on 9 January 2025. He provided his views on strengthening BIMSTEC at the event attended by His Excellency Mr. Indra Mani Pandey, Secretary General of BIMSTEC.

After having successfully organized the 15th South Asia Economic Summit in December 2024, SAWTEE staff and members, along with their families, spent the weekend of 4-5 January 2025 atop Chandragiri hill, some 2,500 metres above sea level on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley, brainstorming on SAWTEE’s strategy until 2030 while enjoying panoramic views of Himalayan ranges and a bird’s-eye view of the valley.

SAWTEE organized an interaction programme between Mr. Chandra Ghimire, Nepal’s ambassador-designate to the UK, and SAWTEE’s board members and staff at SAWTEE office on 3 January 2025. On the occasion, SAWTEE felicitated Mr. Ghimire, also a former Commerce Secretary of the Government of Nepal, wished him a successful tenure as Nepal’s envoy to the UK, an important trade and development partner of Nepal, and provided some inputs based on SAWTEE’s research to advance Nepal-UK economic ties. Mr. Ghimire registered his deep appreciation for SAWTEE’s inputs.

Ms. Neelu Thapa, Treasurer, SAWTEE and Mr. Prajol Joshi, Economist, SAWTEE participated in the Regional Consultation on Innovative Ideas and Knowledge Sharing, held in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 14 December 2024. The event was organized by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh, in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

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The Fifteenth South Asia Economic Summit (SAES XV), organized by SAWTEE, concluded in Kathmandu on December 13, 2024, after three days of discussions held from December 11 to 13. The Summit, themed “Unleashing an Equitable Green Transformation in South Asia,” served as a platform to discuss the region’s most pressing challenges and opportunities for sustainable development.

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Dr. Paras Kharel, Executive Director, SAWTEE, presented on non-tariff measures facing select least developed (LDCs) countries in the Asia-Pacific region in the context of LDC graduation at the First Asia-Pacific Biennial Review of the Doha Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2022–2031, organized by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Royal Government of Cambodia in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia on 4-5 December 2024. Policymakers and experts from the region gathered at the review meeting.