BIMSTEC members should re-examine the priorities of member nations with regards to trade negotiations so that the delayed Free Trade Agreement can be finalized. This was stated by Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal while delivering his speech at the inaugural edition of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Business Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
In his address, Shri Goyal said that there is a need to reassess the reasons behind the delay in the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement. He said that the members need to come up with a set of cogent recommendations that are acceptable to all seven countries. He called for the Trade Negotiating Committee and the business community to consider a preferential trade agreement to begin with to foster intra-regional trade and investment and enhance regional competitiveness.
Shri Goyal called upon the BIMSTEC members to introspect on the current trading relations noting that trade among the BIMSTEC countries is small. There’s a long way to go before we can achieve its full potential, he said. The Union Minister called for deeper integration amongst the member nations to provide honest feedback and help strengthen trade facilitation and cross-border movement of goods.
He further said that there should be a focus on reducing trade deficit, strengthening of trade facilitation measures to strengthen partnership in e-commerce, digital public infrastructure and better integration of custom borders with the aid of technology. The Minister noted that there is a need for computerisation of border controls, faster clearances of the import-export online application processes which will help in Ease of Doing Business.
BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation is a grouping of countries in South Asia and South East Asia – Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
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