Union Commerce and Industry Minister Sh. Piyush Goyal announces commencement of work on Trade Connect ePlatform

Sh. Goyal chairs the 2nd meeting of reconstituted Board of Trade in New Delhi

We must leverage the FTAs for our benefit to push exports: Sh. Goyal

Need to encourage Startups, MSMEs to start exporting: Sh. Goyal

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal today chaired the second meeting of the reconstituted Board of Trade held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi today. Shri Goyal announced initiation of work on Trade Connect ePlatform, an intermediary platform providing the facility to connect Indian exporters and entrepreneurs with various stakeholders in international trade will commence shortly.

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, 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.

In his opening remarks, Shri Goyal said that the Board of Trade meeting is an opportunity to deliberate on the key issues including how to leverage the FTAs for our benefit, how to encourage the Startups/MSMEs to go beyond our borders and start exporting, boosting exports also from the services sector which remains a key driver of export growth from the country.

Shri Goyal 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. He further emphasied on making exports a people’s movement with the States, Centre and the Industry, all playing an equal role in accelerating Indian exports.

The Minister emphasised on the pro-active role to be played by the 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. While talking of potential in service exports, the Minister emphasised on Education, Tourism and Audio-Visual services as the areas with huge potential.