Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that states have sought early outcomes on pending negotiations for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) along with an early enforcement of the India-UK FTA to ensure benefits to the domestic industry and exporters.Addressing the media in New Delhi after chairing a meeting with the members of the Board of Trade (BoT), he stated that the Board expressed satisfaction over the ongoing FTA negotiations. Twenty-two states, including West Bengal, took part in the meeting, in which nine state ministers were present. Demands raised by the stakeholders included more testing labs for marine products, benefits of RBI’s moratorium for exporters, legal services by the DGTR (Directorate General of Trade Remedies) for MSMEs to save costs and adequate representation through the DGTR.
The Commerce Ministry assured that it is committed to act on several suggestions which were given.The issue of internal logistics cost faced by industry was also flagged, for which the government is looking to engage with private stakeholders.The Minister added that Inter-ministerial consultation is underway on capacity expansion in SEZs, as the government looks to replace several imports from the ASEAN bloc on the back of excess capacity in SEZs.
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