While disclosing the objective of meeting, he said, "The rational for having this meeting is to have a closer inter-action between the Centre and States. Our Ministry should give greater focus on an inter-active dialogue with the state governments on a regular and sustained basis."
"Joint Secretaries of our ministry need to be allocated specific states and they would need to monitor on regular basis the trend of our exports and the constraints being faced by their respective States," he added.
The Board of Trade is a forum for continuous dialogue between government and trade & industry.
The board advises the government on policy measures connected with India's foreign trade in order to achieve the objective of boosting the country's exports, including advising the government on preparation and implementation of short-term as well as long-term strategies for enhancing exports in light of emerging national and international trade scenarios.
The re-constituted Board of Trade has 41 members, including non-official members, ex-officio members and official members.
During the discussions, Sharma said that apart from fiscal incentives, another issue which is coming in the way of increasing exports and needs to be tackled is trade transaction costs for exports; there are procedural bottlenecks which impede efficiency and constrain our export growth.
"I would like to establish an inter-ministerial task force to oversee its implementation also discussed with the members about the global economic slowdown and possible measures required to enhance India's export competitiveness," he added.
The minister also informed "For the labour intensive industry exports, especially agriculture, textiles, leather, gems and jewellery, I would like to make a specific announcement or the special dispensation which would underline the sensitivity of the government towards issues of employment."
