Landlocked or Policy-locked? The WTO Review of Nepal's Trade Policy

Located between India and China-emerging powerhouses-Nepal is a landlocked country. Despite its strategic location, Nepal's growth performance so far has been disappointingly slow. It has not yet fully adhered to the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and regulations, and it faces several challenges relating to prudential macroeconomic policies, governance and infrastructure. It is increasingly evident that Nepal's own policies and practices are the root cause of its lacklustre growth performance despite its strategic location between two emerging powerhouses, with preferential access to many high-income economies. However, Trade Policy Review: Nepal 2018 by the WTO is disappointingly polite in discussing these challenges and policy shortcomings, which should have been the left, right and centre of the report. Despite these shortcomings, its publication is very timely, given the current policy debate on the problems of landlocked developing countries.