Strategies for district level growth
Minister for Commerce & Industry Suresh Prabhu has called upon states to explore ways of tapping the US$5 trillion global trade by promoting services exports, organic farming, value addited agricultural products, utilisation of the benefits accorded to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and creating employment.
Addressing the 3rd Meeting of Council of Trade Development and Promotion held in New Delhi 8 Jan 2018, Prabhu stressed on the importance creating an enabling environment for promoting exports.
He underlined the need to develop state and district level strategies, saying planning should be done around districts, making them the new units of growth.
The Minister further said that a new agricultural exports policy is required that lays focus on increasing exports of value-added agricultural products so that farmers can access international markets and increase their income.
Prabhu released a study “LEADS-Logistics Ease Across Different States”, a first ever sub-national logistics performance index.
He also released the “State Exports Booklet”, a compendium, of the status of exports from the States over the last 10 years.
The meeting was also told about the need to jointly address impediments in trade and the logistic and infrastructure gaps which affect India’s exports.
Also speaking at the meeting, Goa Chief MinisterManohar Parikkar called on all states to prioritise exports by drafting a policy and to look at the primary, manufactures and deemed exports to achieve their full potential.
Nitin Bhai Patel, Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat, pointed out that frequent changes in the export regulations cause hardship to exporters as this renders existing contracts infructuous.
He echoed the sentiment of providing agri product exporters subsidy on the lines of Minimum Selling Price (MSP) support provided to farmers.
Among others, Andhra Pradesh sought the support from the centre for resolving issues relating to the pharmaceutical sector which are major exports from the state as well as a facilitation centre to increase the exports from the state.
Likewise, Bihar has requested that the centre should support creation of Export Infrastructure while J&K has requested the setting up of industries related to railways and defence in the state. fii-news.com
