Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha stressed the need for the trade ecosystem to increasingly become growth-oriented, adding that India must be in a state of readiness to implement the commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
Mr. Sinha was speaking in his capacity as the chairman of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF), during its first meeting. The NCTF is a mandatory requirement under the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation.
“He summed-up the significant areas of the TFA as simplification of procedures, reduction in time and cost, augmentation of infrastructure and greater use of technology,” according to an official statement. “He also directed that the Steering Committee, working under NCTF, will be co-chaired by the Revenue Secretary and the Commerce Secretary.”
It was decided that the next meeting of the NCTF will take place in December and the Steering Committee will meet twice before that to come up with specific goals for the implementation of the TFA.
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia spoke about the need to do away with the multiplicity of committees looking at trade facilitation at various levels.
“He suggested that the NCTF which was now the high level national body for same could subsume other such committees and become a uniform voice on these issues,” according to the statement.
