Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal on 16 January 2024 said the government will launch an ePlatform ‘Trade Connect’ for Indian exporters to connect with various stakeholders in international trade by May this year, which will be one of the facilitators in achieving the $2 trillion export target by 2030.
Goyal announced initiation of work on the Trade Connect ePlatform, an intermediary platform, during the second meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade (BOT) held at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
BOT, constituted by merging the Council for Trade Development and Promotion with it, advises the government on policy measures connected with trade. Its first meeting was held on September 13, 2022.
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 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), access to sector specific events along with a facility to address trade related queries to government officials and associated entities to get expert advice. The platform is likely to be ready in three-four months’ time period, he said.
BOT meeting is an opportunity to deliberate on the key issues including how to leverage the FTAs for our benefit, how to encourage the startups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to go beyond our borders, boosting exports also from the services sector, which remains a key driver of export growth from the country, he said.
He stressed 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. The minister sought states to be pro-active to achieve higher exports and contribute to the nation building process. According to him, education, tourism and audio-visual services as the areas with huge potential.
BOT meeting focused on reviewing the export performance to achieve the $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, the commerce ministry said in a statement. It is an important mechanism for deliberations on trade related issues with industry bodies, associations, Export Promotion Councils (EPCs), state and union territories, besides 29 non-official members are also invited in the meeting, it said.
The meeting was also attended by minister of state for commerce Anupriya Patel, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal, Director General of Foreign Trade Santosh Sarangi, other senior officials and members of the industry.
