Harnessing the US tariff preferences

Encouraging the use of domestic textiles and fibres will benefit rural households.

Textiles and garments were the major export products of Nepal following the decades of the late 70s until they declined with the onset of the new millennium. The staged phase-out of the quota under the Multifibre Arrangement of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)—a short-term international trade agreement relating to textiles and garments—which came to full circle at the end of 2005, opened the market for competition. Consequently, there was a free fall in the exports of those countries that could not compete.