Taking part in a programme here on Wednesday, CA Chair, however, hoped that political parties would hammer out the disputes over the constitution-drafting soon and lead the country to right track.

He was speaking at an interaction on "import replacement and cooperative for social justice", organised by the National Cooperative Federation of Nepal on the occasion of 58th National Cooperative Day. He pledged to incorporate the issues concerning cooperative in the new constitution.

Similarly, the Chairman underlined the need of timely drafting of the new constitution to economically upgrade the country.

Federation Chairperson and lawmaker Keshab Prasad Badal said the cooperative movement was an outcome of public demand, and demanded that the state gave proper recognition to the cooperative sector as the Interim Constitution has mentioned it as one of three pillars of country's economic development. Growth in agro products would help reduce country's trade deficit, he added.

Former Finance Minister and Federation advisor Bharat Mohan Adhikari stated that country's trade deficit in the first six months of the current fiscal year has been recorded at around Rs 344 billion.

Nepali Congress leader Arjun Narsingh KC said the government should promote cooperative sector, recognizing it as a backbone for country's economic development.

Meanwhile, the Federation has announced to present this year's annual Cooperative Business Award to Makwanpur District Dairy Producers Cooperative Ltd Hetauda, Shree Laligurans Multi-purpose Cooperative Ltd ( Lalitpur), Nepal Multi-Purpose Cooperative Ltd (Jhapa), Gramin Saving and Credit Ltd ( Nawalparasi), Kasturi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Ltd ( Jajarkot) and Mahila Jagaran Saving and Credit Ltd ( Makwanpur).

The award will be presented on the occasion of the 58th National Cooperative day on April 3.