| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 21-Apr-03 10:03 AM
It's been a month since Senator Feinstein introduced that bill.
It's time to take stock and see what's up.
***********
S.662
Title: A bill to extend to Nepal certain preferential treatment with respect to apparel articles.
Sponsor: Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] (introduced 3/19/2003)
Cosponsors: (none)
Latest Major Action: 3/19/2003 Referred to Senate committee.
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senators -- of the all-too-powerful Finance Committee -- to be persuaded by
Nepali communities and oother friends of Nepal in the US.
Republicans:
CHARLES GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
DON NICKLES, OK
TRENT LOTT, MS
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
CRAIG THOMAS, WY
RICK SANTORUM, PA
BILL FRIST, TN
GORDON SMITH, OR
JIM BUNNING, KY
Democrats:
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
TOM DASCHLE, SD
JOHN BREAUX, LA
KENT CONRAD, ND
BOB GRAHAM, FL
JAMES M. JEFFORDS, VT
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm
*************
oohi
"avidly interested in how political actions in DC translate into results for Nepal"
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| MainBatti |
Posted
on 21-Apr-03 06:12 PM
"avidly interested in how political actions in DC translate into results for Nepal"
---> Sambedansil anga maa sojhai prahaar nagaroun na yaar. Anyway, Puru Subedi and co. for action! :)
Bhawadiye,
"Wondering if I can steal some of Ashu's 100% accuracy missiles"
MainBatti.
|
| Puru Subedi |
Posted
on 22-Apr-03 09:01 AM
Ashu ji,
Thank you for the information. We are discussing best way to approach the senators on the finance committee. NAPAC may lead the effort to approach senators individually through Nepali organizations and NAPAC coordinator of senator's state.
Some of my friends here in DC indicated that when the Nepali Trade team came to US, there was a verbal agreement between embassy and the trade team plus ministers that they were suppose to send some money (20,000 plus dollars) to lobby on behalf of them. I am in the process of getting more information about this agreement.
If this money arrives, the community should be in a position to even hire a professional lobbyist to move forward. We may not be able to persuade senators by just sending letters.
Will keep you posted. By the way, could you please let Anup ji know that I am waiting for an e-mail from him if you see him at the conference "The Agenda of Transformation:
Inclusion in Nepali Democracy" day after tomorrow.
M.B. ji, I think Ashu ji means political action at the national capital in DC not Nepalese community in DC. No? :)
-PS
|
| ? |
Posted
on 22-Apr-03 09:05 AM
Another way of exploiting cheap labor in Nepal in the name of globalization.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 22-Apr-03 09:23 AM
Puru Subedi-ji wrote:
"I think Ashu ji means political action at the national capital in DC not Nepalese community in DC."
Puru-ji, you are absolutely right.
That's what I meant, and that's why I posted US government ko Web site ko links.
Hope your family is well and good in DC.
Will relay your request to Anup on Thursday at the conference.
It'd be fun to catch up with him.
******
?-ji:
If you have time, you may wish to read this article --"in praise of cheap labor" --
by Princeton economist Paul Krugman.
http://slate.msn.com/id/1918
oohi
"feeling more and more like a reference librarian on Sajha.com"
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| ? |
Posted
on 22-Apr-03 09:40 AM
Yea Krugman, What does HE know? It is the exact logic that these greedy sacks of shit have used to exploit poor people in the name of helping them. If we were to backtrace the reason of the problem, I am darn sure it will point back to these 'capitalists'.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 22-Apr-03 09:57 AM
?-ji,
"greedy sacks of shit"?
You surely have a colorful vocabulary.
Other than that, you are entitled to your views.
oohi
"recently assisted 8 former street kids. now in their late teens to early 20s, become profit-seeking entrepreneurs -- i.e. go the capitalist way -- in Kathmandu"
ashu
ktm,nepal
|
| ? |
Posted
on 22-Apr-03 10:05 AM
"greedy sacks of shit"?
Yep, that would be one of my originals. :)
Other than that, lets be honest, my main concern is child labor here.
|
| Puru Subedi |
Posted
on 24-May-03 10:45 PM
Related info on today's KTM Post:
Bill favouring Nepali business meets stiff resistance in US
Post Report
KATHMANDU, May 24 : A preferential trading bill submitted to the US Senate by Senator Diane Feinstein, proposing a duty and quota free access to the Nepali garments, faces a stiff resistance by some Senators who are allegedly working on behalf of the Texas-based Panda Energy International, Inc.(PEI) that has business interests in Nepal.
Sources told The Sunday Post that the PEI, which has a huge investment in Bhote Koshi Hydroelectric Project in Nepal, has mobilised Texan Senators to block the passage of the preferential bill if its payment rift with the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is not settled soon.
The sources also revealed that the PEI has sent a letter to the Nepali Embassy in the US urging for the payment of its "dues" prior to the movement of the bill to Senate from the Finance Committee.
A businessman, currently in the US lobbying to get the bill through the US Senate, revealed that the Nepali Embassy in Washington recently forwarded the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for necessary action.
NEA, the state-owned power distributor, and PEI, the private power developer, are at loggerheads over the payment of the power sold to the former by the latter. While the PEI blames the NEA of breaching the Power Purchase Agreement, NEA, on the other hand, accuses the PEI of claiming for the payment of the extra power that it never agreed to buy.
Todd W Carter, President of the PEI, in a letter published in a local national weekly few weeks ago threatened to block the bill using the Senators. The forbidding letter read: "The investors in BKPC (Bhote Koshi Power Company Pvt. Ltd), including Panda (PEI), do have a strong relationship with various members of the United States Congress and with the Executive Branch of the United States Government."
It further added, "It is our hope that the issues with NEA can be resolved and that in the future BKPC and Panda can use these relationships to further support and participate in efforts to increase international business investment and other opportunities for Nepal."
In the event that the company successfully blocks the bill in the US Congress, Nepals languishing textile and apparel exports that is seeking a new lease of life through duty and quota free access to the US market would receive a serious blow. Over 85 per cent of Nepals garment export currently goes to the United States, and is subject to an approximate 18 per cent tariff.
Entrepreneurs criticise both the NEA and the PEI for not settling the issue amicably, which, in their eyes, is "completely a domestic issue".
"While the NEA must clear the legitimate dues if any, the PEI should not link it to an entirely different issue and try to sabotage an effort that is in the larger interest of the country," said an entrepreneur preferring anonymity.
The garment entrepreneurs are banking a lot on the support of the US Ambassador in Kathmandu for duty and quota free access to the Nepali garments; nonetheless, they fear that the adamant stance by PEI can jeopardise the whole process.
If cleared by the US Congress, the preferential bill would come into force in October. The draft has proposed October 1, 2003, as the enforcement date and September 30, 2005 as the expiry date.
The Nepali garment export to the United States is passing through a slump, especially after the United States granted a duty and quota free access to the African garments to her market.
The garments industry in Nepal is entirely for foreign consumption and accounts for about 40 percent of the hard currency earnings through exports. It employs over 100,000 workers half of them women and supports the livelihood of over 350,000 people. Nepali garment, at its peak, accounted for only 0.1 per cent of total garments and textile imports by the US, generating a mere US$ 29.5 million in tariffs for the US government.
|
