Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Tuesday announced initiation of work on the Trade Connect ePlatform and called upon the reconstituted Board of Trade to adopt a two pronged strategy to leverage FTAs and push exports for India’s benefit as well as encourage startups, MSMEs to start exporting.
The BoT, an intermediary platform providing the facility to connect Indian exporters and entrepreneurs with various stakeholders in international trade, met with a focus to deliberate on key issues including encouraging startups/MSMEs to go beyond India’s borders and start exporting, boosting exports also from the services sector which remains a key driver of export growth from the country.
The ePlatform is expected to provide facilitation for new and aspiring exporters, information on various regulations to access markets, sectors, export trends, easy access of benefits under FTAs, access to sector specific events along with a facility to address trade related queries to officials in Government of India and associated entities to get expert advice. The platform is likely to be ready in 3-4 months’ time period.
The Board of Trade meeting also reviewed the export performance towards the goal of achieving the USD 2 trillion export target for year 2030, the priorities identified in the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023 and the strategies and measures to be adopted in order to take forward the export growth. Goyal emphasised on the need to internationalise the goods and services to help in improving the quality of the products and also to have economies of scale alongwith making exports a people’s movement with the states, Centre and the industry, all playing an equal role in accelerating Indian exports.
The Minister also envisages a proactive role by states/UTs to achieve higher exports and contribute to the nation building process. He further assured that all the issues raised by the participants will be addressed and the suggestions made by them in the meeting today will be considered by the concerned.
The reconstituted Board of Trade, in sync with the new targets, provides an opportunity to have regular discussions and consultations with trade and industry and advises the Government on policy measures connected with the FTP in order to achieve the objectives of boosting India’s trade.
It also provides a platform to the state governments and UTs for sharing state-oriented perspectives on exports besides acting as a platform for the Government for appraising state and UTs about international developments affecting India’s trade and the role that they can play in promoting exports.
The meeting was attended by various state ministers and other senior officials of key line ministries and States, all major trade and industry bodies, export promotion councils and industry associations.
