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UNDP Nepal in the News
The Rising Nepal
16 June 2005Nepal e-Haat Bazaar website launched
Kathmandu, June 15:A business to business e-commerce web-site 'Nepali e-Haat Bazaar' was launched Wednesday aiming at establishing regional trade linkage in Nepal.
The web-site has been designed for online transaction of potential agricultural and non-agricultural products through which farmers and traders can market their products at the national and international level, according to the Rural Urban Partnership Programme (RUPP), which designed the web-site.
RUPP is a joint initiation of the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Agro Enterprise Centre (AEC) of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce (FNCCI) and High Level Committee for Information Technology (HLCIT) have also joined hands to promote the website.
Minister of Local Development Khadga Bahadur G.C launched the web-site.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the web-site, Ministers G.C. said that developing the IT sector, its utilisation and commercialisation were important for poverty reduction and nation building.
The B2B e-commerce http://www.b2b.com.np/ was first launched in Pokhara in February 2001 and was expanded to other municipalities like Vyas, Butwal, Tansen, Bharatpur, Hetauda, Tulsipur, Biratnagar, Tribhuwannagar, Nepalgunj, Inaruwa and Itahari at city level.
The RUPP, HLCIT and AEC recognised it as a national level ecommerce web-site by signing an agreement on May 13. Its office will be at FNCCI building.
The minister said that government-private partnership was crucial to achieve the national objective. Minister GC Khadka said that the government had assumed the IT as a tool to reduce poverty through its socio-economic use. He hoped that the launched web-site would help farmers, business community and the consumers as well.
National Project Coordinator of the RUPP, Narayan Bahadur Thapa said that the web-site was required to establish trade linkage at the national and international level, publicize the products and receive price tags of the agro products on daily basis. "It will benefit farmers as well as traders in marketing their products both at locally and outside," he said. He said that it would help in reducing poverty by increasing entrepreneurial activities.
According to the RUPP, agricultural and non-agricultural products like fruits, cereal, dairy products, meat, apparel, shoes, jewellery, wooden metal products etc. can be promoted through the web-site.
Sharad Chandra Shah, vice chairman of the HLCIT, emphasised on the need for involvement of more users of the web-site. He hoped that it would be the success story as it had given priority to the agriculture sector on which people's dependence is huge. Shah also focussed on incorporating the feedback of users and enhancing its quality.
Member Secretary of the HLCIT, Atma Ram Ghimire said that the main challenge was to make the web-site within the reach of majority of the farmers. He also emphasised on the need for making the web-site as window of marketing by involving more and more buyers and sellers.
Deputy Resident Representative UNDP Ghulam Isaczai said that IT was not only a technical tool but also a means to reduce poverty and empower people. A major objective for poverty reduction to external IT to the rural areas. "The present scenario of about 1.5 million people in Nepal with Internet access is too little," he said.
FNCCI acting President Chandi Raj Dhakal said that the web-site would be useful to explore markets for the business community. He also said that if it were developed as an information hub for the stake holders it would help in commercialising the agriculture sector.
Executive Director of AEC, Dev Bhakta Shakya said that the main objective of the web-site launching was to facilitate trade through the use of IT.
He said that the web-site was needed to be promoted as a site for trade-related information. He also informed that it would initially focus on agriculture but could be expanded to other sectors if there is demand.