Embassy of Nepal in Abu Dhabi was opened on April 11, 2004 at the level of Charge d’Affaires. The UAE Embassy in New Delhi is accredited to Nepal now. UAE always expected Nepal to establish its diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi. It had extended all cooperation to our mission in Riyadh which was accredited to the UAE concurrently. Earlier, the Embassy officials from Riyadh used to make periodical visits to provide consular services to the Nepalese expatriates working in this country. Nepal is looking forward for further strengthening its relations with the UAE. Nepal opened its Mission in view of the increasing political and economic importance of UAE in the region. Another important reason is to serve a large community of Nepalese expatriates working in the Emirates. It is also the responsibility of the Mission to protect the interests of Nepali nationals. The flow of Nepalese workers in this country is increasing every year in thousands, because of UAE’s goodwill and trust on the Nepalese expatriates and its liberal, open and labour-friendly policy. The Government of UAE is very liberal in accepting the Nepalese work force. A high level delegation headed by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat visited UAE in October 3-5 2004 Royal Nepal Airlines started its flight to Dubai in 1985 in transit to its European destinations. It is one of the oldest foreign airlines operating in the region. At present, the Qatar Airways and the Gulf Air are also catering to the needs of the travelers. There are now 20 scheduled weekly flights to UAE from Nepal. Tourism can be one of the potential areas in the development of Nepal-UAE relations. Nepal can do so by encouraging the visitors with attractive packages. Nepal can become a destination for the local population who visit Europe and South East Asian countries on holidays during the summer. There is also a need for increasing direct flights to Nepal keeping in view the increasing traffic. Similarly, Nepal has tremendous scope for eco-tourism. National parks and reserves where one can see varieties of flora and fauna, river rafting, bird watching besides the traditional areas of trekking and mountaineering are some of the attractions. Family tourism for a longer duration is another way to attract the Emiratis because of its climate, flora and fauna. Nepal took part in the Arabian Travel Mart in May last year is also taking part in the Dubai Shopping Festival for the first time this year. Trade between the two countries is negligible and is in favour of UAE. There is a need for enhancing trade relations in the interest of both the countries. Nepal imported copper scraps, machinery, electronic goods, transport equipment, imitation jewellery, industrial raw materials and some quantity of fertilizer and exported garments, black cardamom and refined copper wire. But those were not the regular types of trade. The volume was very small. In 2001-02, the percentage of UAE’s share in the total export of Nepal was a mere 0.3 % while the percentage of import from UAE in Nepal’s total import was also almost the same totaling to 6 million AED and 19 million AED respectively. With the industrial development of especially in the Dubai Emirate, there is a scope for increase in the imports from the UAE. Similarly, Nepal is exploring market for export of organic vegetables. The Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) are also active in promoting trade relations with UAE. As Nepal has become a member of WTO recently there are possibilities to broaden the scope of imports from this country. Remittance from the workers in UAE who are estimated to exceed 80,000 contributes substantially to the economy of Nepal. The new measures taken by the Nepal Rashtra Bank to stop the illegal inflow of funds through Hawala/Hundi system has encouraged the Nepalese workers to remit their earnings through banks and legalized money exchange companies. The UAE Exchange, a private sector exchange company which also operates Xpress money product is estimated to have remitted Rs. 400 crores to Nepal last year by approximately 7,000-8,000 transactions. The amount of money transferred through hundis is not known and it may be more when the number of transactions per month with the expatriate population in this country is compared.
