Food & Wine Nepal – July 2019

(44) Hospitality, Food & Wine, Monthly

Nepal and Bangladesh have enjoyed

over 47 years of bilateral relations.

What do you credit this successful

relation towards? How important is

it to maintain such a friendly relation

in 21st Century world?

The relations date back to more than

1000 years. During the 10th century

a Buddhist scholar, Atisa Dipankara,

travelled from Bangladesh via Nepal

on his journey to Tibet. In Thamel

there even is a stupa named after him.

The earliest written samples of Bangla

script in a collection of poetries called

“Charyapada” were found preserved

in Nepal’s archives which date back

to 11th century AD. So the relation

has been there for a long time now.

There have been plenty of trade and

religious linkages in the past as well.

The relationship today has been based

on this centuries old relationship and

based on the very firm foundation, it

is important that we both continue this

bond. We share the same problems,

challenges and issues of development,

poverty, access to the global market and

to resolve this we need to keep working

together and for that we need to very

good bilateral relations.

The two nations have also been

enjoying healthy economic relations.

In the past Nepal had been in trade

surplus with Bangladesh until 2014

and after that Bangladesh has the

trade surplus with Nepal. How do

you take change shift of trade game?

The current trade of around 40 million

dollars exports from Bangladesh and

around 10-11 million dollars exports

from Nepal is far below the potential.

We both can significantly increase

those numbers. For a long time Nepal

was exporting only lentils for about 40

million dollars until 2014. But since

then the export of lentils have dropped

since it is more economical for us to

import it from elsewhere. While the

lentil export have gone down, other

goods such as handicrafts, pashmina,

vegetables, etc. are being exported to

Bangladesh but the quantity is very

small. It is interesting though that since

2014, our exports to Nepal has gone up.

Until 2013-2014, we were exporting

around 10-11 million dollars worth of

goods. But right now our exports to

Nepal are growing and have diversified

as well. We are exporting electronics,

pharmaceuticals, motorcycles,

furniture, construction material,

processed food, ceramics, plastic ware,

etc. instead of just the raw jute that

we were exporting. But Bangladesh is

very conscious about supporting Nepal

as we are very good friends. In 2012,

even when we had a trade deficit with

Nepal, we offered duty free access to

Nepali products to the Bangladeshi

market. We have not asked for the same

but only preferential access. For various

Her Excellency Ms. Mashfee Binte Shams has been serving

as the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Nepal since 2013

and in that time the relation between Nepal and

Bangladesh have only strengthened. We spoke

about the long standing trade relations

with Bangladesh, her views on women

empowerment, areas of collaboration

and how she misses fish from back

home. Read on to find more

about her and the relation

between the two

countries

Her Excellency

Ms. Mashfee Binte Shams