1 Workshop and seminars

a. Series of Workshops
Of late Nepalese corporate houses and professionals have shown keen interest in modern management tools techniques it is therefore proposed to conduct monthly seminar series in the following proposed topics. The seminar and workshop will be widely publicized in the daily newspaper to gather as many participants as possible. Participation fee will be charged (fund raising source). Expert will be arranged by EEC-N. At the request of EEC-N an expert from Price Waterhouse Coppers, The Netherlands, Ms. Els Schapendonk has agreed to stay Nepal effective from July 2006 to support the secretariat for a period of 12 months..

Organizational Development
Business Match Making
Enhancing Professionalism of Chamber Secretariat
Planning & Organizing Exhibitions Successfully
Leadership Management
Venture Capital
How to export to EU – opportunities & challenges?
If European industries want to outsource production capacity, what is the main criterion for choosing a supplier?
Prospects of exporting herbs & herbal products to EU – Potential buyers
How to find a right market for your product in EU?
Company-Wide Problem Solving
Quality Control Training Course
Practical Improvement Program for Factories
Effective Production Management Training Seminar
Practical Solution of Quality-Related Problems
Small Business Planning & Promotion

b. Exporting to European Union

Objective of the Workshop: to inform Nepalese exporters about the rules and practices prevailing in EU for selling to that market. This is expected to help exporters to increase their knowledge and capability.

Major Subjects to deal upon: Relevant Laws & Practice / Tariff / Non –Tariff situation Quality / Social Factors Child Labor / bonded labor / human rights / EU preferential treatment to LDCs

Workshop Plan: Experts on the subject will present theme in the form of working papers and various exercises and models. Participants will participate in the subject intensely and learn the latest facts on the subject. Copies of Export documents and the procedures will be explained. Filed visit will be undertaken to a successful Export company, Airport Cargo complex, Bank etc.

Beneficiaries: Exporting Firms / Companies, Packers & Movers / Freight Forwarders Shippers & Transporters

c. Buying from European Union

Objective of the Workshop: to inform Nepalese importers about the rules and practices prevailing in EU while buying from that market. This is expected to help importers to increase their knowledge and capability.

Major Subjects to deal upon: Relevant Laws & Practice / Tariff & Non –Tariff situation / Quality / Incentives and Concessions to LDCs

Workshop Plan: Experts on the subject will present theme in the form of working papers and various exercises and models. Participants will participate in the subject intensely and learn the latest facts on the subject. Copies of relevant documents and the procedures will be explained. Filed visit will be undertaken to a successful Import company, Airport Cargo complex, Bank etc.

Beneficiaries: Importing Firms / Companies, Shippers & Transporters

d. Role of Entrepreneurs in Peace Process

As one of the stakeholders of the country, it is a major responsibility of private sector to play a role in the peace process. The chamber will organize 4 such seminars in Kathmandu, Lumbini, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar:

The Chamber with the support of concerned agencies will conduct and coordinate regional program on the subject matter to identify the role of business community in peace and development.

e. EU Development in Nepal-EU economic relations

EU as the largest union in the world can play a constructive role in socio-economic promotion of Nepal. Some experts will be invited to give a talk program on the subject.

f. Role of Banks to promote SMEs

The Nepalese Bank should expand its efforts to support microenterprises and small and medium-size businesses in Nepal as a means to foster sustainable economic growth, higher levels of employment and better living conditions. “Microenterprises and small and medium-size businesses are the best antidote to poverty.”

Small businesses contribute to poverty reduction by creating new jobs, adding value and increasing productivity in environments where economic opportunities are otherwise limited,

g. Expanding Access to Financing

The seminar should focus on critical issue for the development of micro, small and medium-size enterprises: providing these firms with greater access to financing, which is frequently identified as the single biggest obstacle facing Nepalese entrepreneurs.

Among the hurdles identifies are the weakness of domestic financial systems and the red tape that pushes entrepreneurs into informality. We have to persuade formal financial institutions that lending to small and medium-size firms can be good business.

A key element is the development of local capital markets to provide both savings opportunities for investors and resources for firms in need of financing.

h. How to stay competitive – Lessons for Financial sectors once Nepal opens up its service sectors
As a result of the negotiation for the accession to WTO, Nepal agreed broad commitments in 11 services sectors (Financial services being one of them), revealing its clear belief in the benefits of liberalization as an engine for future growth and prosperity. Sooner or later we will be obliged to open up our financial services to foreign access.

If we do so:
• Can we compete with the giant multinationals?
• Do we allow them to take over our businesses?
• Do we make a strategy whereby we would comprehensively be able to compete with them?

The EC, other developed countries and the US want access to large chunks of the Indian / Chinese service market. This will have a massive impact in terms of employment and transfer of payments outside the country. For example, EC wants Retailing to be opened up. This will open the way for huge shopping chains to enter the country, wiping out livelihoods of lakhs of small shop-owners and vendors. This is what has happened in Thailand after it liberalized its retail sector.

In order to avoid similar situation in our financial sector we at the EEC-Nepal are trying to get some experts from abroad to educate us on "How effectively can we compete with MNCs?" once Nepal opens up its financial services.

i. Trade, Aid, and Development: Policy Tools for Poverty Reduction

Following the collapse of trade negotiations in Cancun, and as many parts of the international community work to translate the Millennium Development Goals into concrete action, debate continues about appropriate strategies of poverty reduction in diverse circumstances. Moreover, with the future of the World Trade Organization's so-called "development" round of negotiations more precarious than ever, serious questions persist regarding the effectiveness of foreign trade as an alternative to foreign aid in reducing poverty in the developing world.

This session will explore a number of issues central to these debates.

What are the comparative advantages of each?
• Trades versus aid both in terms of meeting immediate needs as well as securing long-term sustainability of impoverished nations?
• What are the political, social and economic circumstances that make one policy preferable to the other?
• In what ways can these policies be combined or adapted?

While the United Nations' recent recommendations on Financing for Development recognize that the reduction of poverty - in both human and economic terms - is key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, there is very little agreement about strategies at the practical level. This session will bring together policy-makers, practitioners and academics for a dialogue about the combination of approaches, actors and best-practices which should be pursued in different countries and regions in order to link economic growth and poverty reduction. How can development policy address both income and "capability" poverty? How can poverty reduction be linked to human development?

j. Comprehensive Project Management Seminar

Rigorous project management (PM) used to be restricted to "project-driven" firms in the aerospace, defense, and engineering/construction industries, which performed engineering-based projects for their external customers. Recently many traditionally "non-project-driven" organizations (financial institutions are a good example) realize that more and more of their work actually consists of projects, and they have embraced PM. This seminar is for staff in both project-driven and non-project driven firms. The instructors for this course should bring the PM discipline gained from years managing projects in the more rigorous project-driven industries.

k. Costs and Benefits of the Free Market System

The combined forces of globalization, democratization, technological change, and expanding market capitalism are redefining political, social, and economic dynamics around the world. In the post-Cold War era, governments are privatizing, liberalizing, and deregulating industries and services at unprecedented levels. Trillions of dollars in assets are being shifted from the public to the private sector as governments sell off state-owned heavy industry, telephone and railway systems, airlines, and postal services. As the private sector enters these new markets and as it expands in an increasingly global economy, the world faces expanded potential for economic advancement but also increasingly urgent questions regarding social welfare. As global competition increases, employment patterns are also shifting and posing new challenges for labor markets worldwide.

This workshop will examine the unprecedented spread of free market values around the globe and identify the costs and benefits accompanying this phenomenon.
• How are the roles of government, business, and civil society evolving in the 21st century?
• What kinds of social responsibilities are placed on business and civil society as they assume a greater role in providing for society’s needs?
• What services and responsibilities governments should retain, and how will they be paid for?
• And most important, how are these transformations affecting the lives of citizens and their relationship to government, business, and society as a whole?

The above programs will be conducted with the assistance from INGOs based in Nepal.

2. Vocational Training

Vocational Training on Silver Jewellery

The training will teach modern technology to young artisans who are engaged in the silver jewellery production. Modern hand tools , equipment etc will be introduced.

Trainees are expected to know modern trend and designs from the training.

Service of an expert will be obtained for the training.

3. Interaction Programs

EU Investors - Foreign direct investment in Nepal
EU Donor Agencies - Prioritize the area of development requirements
EU Diplomatic Missions - Role of diplomatic mission in socio-economic development of Nepal

4. Publication / Publicity / Public Relation

a. Establishment of Nepal - European Economic & Business Information Centre
b. Publication of Monthly European Chamber - Nepal Information & News
c. Occasional Papers
- Prospects & Problem in the development of trade, tourism and investment between Nepal and EU
- Potential area for trade and investment between Nepal and EU

5. European Week

Member states of the European Union have been one of the largest donor blocks contributing in the development of various sectors in Nepal such as:

Good governance
Health
Infrastructure development
Energy
Tourism
Promotion of private sectors

However, it is felt that Nepalese at large are unaware of the role being played by institutions such as DFID, GTZ, SNV, DANIDA, FINNIDA and SDC in the socio-economic development Nepal. In that respect, to create awareness amongst the Nepalese people a weeklong program is proposed in Kathmandu to highlight the contribution of above mentioned institutions. A weeklong trade fair program will be organized where comprehensive information will be provided to the people.

Besides, European companies / agents wanting to promote their consumer / industrial products in Nepal, travel trade personalities and some European members of press will also be invited to participate at the fair. This will give Nepal a much-needed relief to reposition itself as safe country to visit and do business with. European missions in Nepal will also be requested to provide, if convenient for them, to provide cultural troupe and cuisine to perform and to be served at the trade fair respectively.

6. Special Projects

a. Asia-Invest Program – European Commission Grant

The Asia-Invest Programme promotes and supports business co-operation between the EU Member States and Asia.

The Programme provides assistance to business intermediaries in order to facilitate mutually beneficial partnerships and internationalise business strategies, as well as to strengthen the business environment for increased trade and investment flows between the two regions.

Asia-Invest II does this across three main areas of activity:
- Business to business match-making activities between EU and Asian companies, in particular SMEs
- Development of the private sector, including strengthening the capacity of companies to engage business co-operation
- Capacity-building for business organisations, including networking and exchange of best practice

The first phase of the Programme was launched in 1997 and has since entered a second phase of implementation from 2003 to2007, with a Commission contribution of €35 million. Asia-Invest has supported more than 260 projects to date, involving thousands of business organisations.

Background

The Asia-Invest II Programme is designed to help companies, in particular SMEs, internationalise their business strategies and to facilitate business co-operation between companies in the European Union (EU) and Asia.

The objectives of the Asia-Invest II Programme are:
- Strengthening the EU’s political and economic presence across Asia
- Raising awareness of Europe in Asia and vice versa
- Strengthening mutual trade and investment flows between the regions
- Reinforcing the private sector and new business development opportunities
- Enhancing the export capabilities and foreign direct investment prospects of the less developed countries in Asia1 (LDCs)
- Promoting integration of Asian countries into the Information Society
- Promote the programme in Mongolia and North Korea, which have become eligible to participate under Asia-Invest II

Priority Issues

This Call for Proposals seeks proposals for economic co-operation projects that carry out the following types of activities:
- Matchmaking Activities between European and Asian SMEs, including the business preparation and follow-up that improve the quality of activities and facilitate the conclusion of partnership agreements.
- Asian Private Sector Development, in the form of technical assistance to Asian enterprises with strong potential for partnership with European companies.
- Institutional Reinforcement consisting of capacity building of Asian intermediary business organizations and enhanced networking with European counterparts including EU chambers of commerce in Asia.

The programme comprises the following four components for which grant support may be offered:
- VENTURE
- INTERPRISE
- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
- ALLIANCE

EEC-Nepal will bid for at least three with different European intermediary business organizations

b. Establishment of Nepal - European Business Point

Display of Business Brochures and Samples of EU suppliers
Profile of European Suppliers
Matchmaking between Buyers and Suppliers
Display of Samples & Brochures of Nepalese Products that could be marketed in EU with priority to small and medium scale producers and also producers from districts.

c. Business Delegation to New Member States of EU

A 10-member Chamber Delegation comprised of Small & Medium Scale Enterprises will go to selected New Member States of EU (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) for making market study and making new business contacts.

7. Miscellaneous

Talk Program on Relevant Topics
European Day Celebration
Members’ Day
Charity Ball for Renovation of Heritage Sites / Education & Health Services for Weaker Section of the Society

EEC-Nepal has identified the following sectors where SNV/PUM could provide necessary logistical support in order to execute the training programs. With the support from the member organization, EEC-Nepal is optimistic that the chamber is in a position to provide vocational training in the mentioned sectors, which would create capacity building and employment opportunity for the professionals and youths of Nepal respectively.