Date: |
04-12-2020
|
Subject: |
Commerce Minister holds Meeting of the Board of Trade to discuss new FTP
|
NEW DELHI: A meeting of the Board of Trade (BOT) was held recently, under the chairmanship of the Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal, through Video Conference. The meeting focused on the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) (2021-26) and the strategies and measures to be taken in order to take forward domestic manufacturing and exports.
In his opening remarks, Shri Goyal said that Our mission is to build a stronger nation & achieve transformational goals, together with the states. He said that we are looking at a truly genuine single window which can help us expand the ease of doing business. People from all over the world should have confidence that they can come and buy land, get all the necessary approvals, do participate in trade and business in India, expand in the manufacturing side and their services networks in India.
Shri Goyal said that we are focusing on ease of doing business. He called for moving beyond the traditional thinking on trade, which centered around Government and Government schemes, and move towards support to more free flowing trade. He said that Trade should bank on the India’s strengths of quality, cost competitiveness, economies of scale, and by leveraging our comparative advantages like labour. He said that going forward, we have every possibility, to achieve the export target of a trillion dollars by 2025 and the GDP target of 5 trillion dollars.
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said that pandemic has impacted everyone in the world but fortunately, our Prime Minister realized the gravity of the situation very early and imposed the nation-wide lockdown. He said that Aatamnirbhar Bharat will make India an active manufacturing hub and a part of the Global supply chain. He also mentioned about the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme which will bring in cutting edge technology, economies of scale, and make us part of integrated global supply chain. He also mentioned about substantive improvement in the country’s ranking in the Innovation and Ease of doing Business indices in the last 6 years. He said that more needs to be done by the Centre and states together, and the role of states is critical in this regard. India’s trade is an important part of its economy, and states have to play an important role in promoting decentralized growth. He said that all districts have specialized products which can be promoted for exports.
During the Board of Trade meeting, presentations were made about Overview of the Export/Import Performance, Investment Promotion Strategy for AatmaNirbhar Bharat (including Public Procurement – Make in India), Trade Remedies – Recent Measures and Steps taken, New Logistics Policy, Trade Facilitation Measures Undertaken by Customs, Reforms and Initiatives by DGFT since last BOT, GeM – Coverage and Expansion.
In his concluding remarks, Shri Puri thanked the participants, particularly the State ministers, for their whole-hearted participation. On the issue of connectivity, Shri Puri said that domestic air traffic has almost reached the pre-Covid levels. He said that the issue of cargo movement and logistics is being looked at in a comprehensive manner, and soon Krishi Udaan Scheme will be launched. He said that the union government is working with the state governments and the private sector, to improve the overall infrastructure. In response to a request to explore FTA with the US, Europe and South Africa, Shri Puri said that we are in the process of reviewing our existing FTAs and comprehensive view will be taken about the future FTAs.
Source:- dst.news