ネパール・インド間の貿易の現状と課題 : ネパール側からの考察を中心に

Issues of Nepal-India Trade : A Nepalese Perspective

Maharjan Keshav Lall

地誌研年報

Annual Report of Research Center for Regional Geography

Nepal and India have a very unique relationship based on their common cultures, e.g., religion, ethnicity, language, and long history of cordial relationship. Even after the fixed border was demarcated between the two countries, the people, goods, money, and information flowed freely across the border in both directions. A long open border that could be crossed easily enhanced these flows. Additionally, because the people living near the border have economic, ethnic, community, familial, and educational relations across the border, for them these flows are just an essential part of their daily lives. Thus, they may not necessarily perceive the border and the flows across it as the governments of both the countries do. The governments, particularly that of Nepal, wanted to trap these flows as a source of revenue and thus needed to account them officially. Standardizing the flow of goods was a priority, and the two governments made a treaty on trade and transit in the early 1950s. Nepal has monitored and accounted for the cross-border trade to the best of its ability ever since the treaty, as not only did this trade constitute the majority of the country's foreign trade, the customs duties it generated constituted a vital part of the national revenue. For India, because this trade was only a negligible fraction of foreign trade, it was of little concern beyond the states bordering Nepal. Therefore, the goods traded over land across the border were accounted for only after 1964 in India. This difference illustrates the two countries' different perceptions of the treaty, trade, and evaluation of traded goods and levying of customs duties. Moreover, the trade is very lopsided in India's favor in the amount and the nature of the goods, as Nepal depends on imports from India to support and sustain its economy and the daily life of its people. However, Nepal exports only certain primary products and very few processed goods that India does not or cannot produce due to its own various constraints. Furthermore, exceptions

General geography. Description and travel [ 290 ]

jpn

広島大学総合地誌研究資料センター

[ISSN] 0915-5449

[NCID] AN10199141