MEA officials meet export promotion councils, business chambers

Secretary (Economic Relations) Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty held a meeting with various Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) and Apex Business Chambers namely, FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM and PHD Chamber of Commerce here on Wednesday.

The meeting, convened by the Ministry of External Affairs, was attended by representatives of 26 Export Promotion Councils and the four business chambers.

It follows an earlier meeting chaired by Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai in February 2013, wherein it had been decided that regular meetings would be held with the business chambers and other entities to identify focus areas for trade and investments.

The meeting tried to identify the possible thrust regions and products for undertaking export promotion activities. Export Promotion Councils gave recommendations and suggestions on the kind of activities which could be carried out by the missions.

Providing market intelligence was one area in which missions' assistance was found useful and this could be further strengthened. The possibility of investment promotion and business development in the two key sectors of pharmaceuticals and electronics was discussed.

In this context, the main features and incentives under the National Manufacturing Policy and the National Electronics Policy were also outlined.

The Export Promotion Councils identified certain areas and countries, which in their view, could be concentrated upon for market expansion activities.

These included markets of Latin America, Eastern Europe, East Asia and South East Asia. The representatives of EPCs indicated some of the problems being faced by them in different sectors. The participants were assured that their suggestions would be looked into and conveyed to Indian Missions abroad, where necessary.

The Ministry of External Affairs intends to try and draw a roadmap for Indian Missions abroad in the identified core areas of export and investment so that all export promotion activities have a certain focus and are result oriented.

It was also agreed that regular meetings on investments, exports and sectoral issues would be held by the ministry so that these interactions are dynamic and lead to substantial outcomes.