Ministry of Commerce And Supplies - Enhanced Integrated ...

N T I S2010into national development plans, and ensure effective coordination and buy-in among various governmentinstitutions, private sector, civil society, DPs, and other stakeholders.As part of its mandate, the NSC will monitor the work of the NIU, assess the NTIS and its Action Matrix,approve prioritized interventions, provide national space for discussion and identification of NTIS priorities,and monitor and coordinate with various initiatives originating from the EIF Secretariat.EIF Focal PointThe Secretary of the MoCS has been designated as the EIF Focal Point (FP). The EIF-FP will provide seniormanagement oversight of the NIU. The EIF-FP will work closely with the relevant line Ministries, the DonorFacilitator (DF), DPs, the Executive Secretariat of the EIF and EIF agencies to ensure that TRTA projects aremainstreamed into the PRSP and respond to the DTIS priorities.National Implementation UnitAn NIU is being established in the MoCS. The Joint Secretary who heads the Planning and InternationalTrade Cooperation Division 2 will serve as NIU Coordinator and EIF Tier 1 Project Director. The NIU will workclosely with other designated Focal Points (FPs) in key Ministries and departments, particularly the Ministry ofFinance, the NPC, the Ministry of Agriculture, the MoTCA as well as other trade-related ministries and public,private and non-governmental institutions to ensure coordination at all stages of the NTIS implementationprocess. The current idea is to strengthen the existing network of WTO FPs so as to create an ‘extendedNIU’ composed of the NIU itself and a network of FPs. The FPs will benefit from many of the same capacitydevelopment initiatives targeted at the NIU.The NIU will monitor the implementation of the Tier 1 project. With support of the network of FPs (the‘extended NIU’) and the TCs, the NIU will lead the development and formulation of projects intended tosupport the implementation of the NTIS 2010 actions (to be financed by DPs based in Nepal or other sourcessuch as the EIF Tier 2 trust fund resources), will be responsible for preparing a multi-year work plan anddetailed annual operational plan supporting the implementation of the NTIS 2010 recommendations, and willbe responsible for monitoring progress and for reporting to the NSC and the EIF Executive Secretariat.NTIS Technical CommitteesTo assist the NSC and the NIU, several technical committees will be established to address various priorityareas identified in NTIS 2010. The technical committees will be chaired by the Secretary of the Ministrydesignated to lead the particular committee. While five technical committees have been proposed thus far,their structures and numbers will be reviewed once the recommendations of the NTIS 2010 have been fullyinternalized by the Government (see Appendix 8).The technical committees will probably include private sector representatives as well as DP representatives inaddition to government officials from pertinent line Ministries. The technical committees will work closely withthe FPs of the ‘extended NIU’ to assist in the identification and formulation of pertinent Technical Assistanceprojects to facilitate implementation of the NTIS recommendations.A critical issue to be addressed early on will be coordination between the technical committees being createdas part of the NIAs and the working groups created under the Nepal Business Forum (NBF). Many issuestackled under the NBF are likely to be similar to those addressed in the NTIS 2010 proposed actions.2Formerly known as the WTO Division.NEPAL TRADE INTEGRATION STRATEGY 2010BACKGROUND REPORT243