Kathmandu, April 17:State Minister for Commerce and Industry Narendra Bikram Nemwang today said that the government would extend full co-operation to the private sector to systematise and promote the exhibition enterprise.

“The government will support wholeheartedly the private sector initiatives that help enhance the national economy,” Nemwang said addressing the closing ceremony of the 10th Himalayan Expo 2000 here this morning.

Nemwang said that the Himalayan Expo – the annual trade fair – had given a new dimension to industry and commerce during the last ten years.

Such fairs not only open up new avenues in the field of trade and commerce but also generate employment and help promote tourism, he added.

“Trade fairs can be an effective means of promoting export,” Nepal Chamber of Commerce’s newly elected President Rajesh Kaji Shrestha said. “They serve as information exchange platforms between the producers and also contribute to marketing of the goods.”

Shrestha appealed to the government to assist the private sector to construct an international standard exhibition centre to fare better in the competitive environment created by the global trade.

Shrestha also stressed on the long term industrial policy for the growth of this sector.

Organised by the House of Rajkarnicar (HoR), the five-day Expo brought together over 180 exhibitors from Nepal, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Portugal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

The Expo attracted 85,000 visitors – 41,000 of them business ones.

HoR’s managing director Birendra Rajkarnicar said that Himalayan Expo was consolidating itself as a business event over the years. He said about 70 per cent of the participants were business exhibitors.

“The next Expo will focus more on industrial themes,” Rajkarnicar said.  “The thrust of the 11th Expo will be to increase export.”

The major sponsors of the event were Shree Distillery, Radisson Hotel, Gorkha Brewery, Kwality Ice-cream and Bottlers Nepal. Other sponsors included Gulf Air, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Biman Bangladesh, Pakistan International Airways, Standard Nursery and Nepal Samacharpatra.