The Hindu Business Line : `Better B2B contacts needed to boost trade with CIS region'

Boosting ties
Lack of awareness of each other's trade potential could be minimised through greater private sector business interaction with the eight resource-rich countries of the region.
Hurdles that existed earlier have now been removed under the `Focus-CIS' programme of the Government

Kolkata , March 23

Expansion of trade with the potentially rich CIS region can be possible only through better business-to-business contacts. Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are said to be extremely rich in mineral resources, which are waiting to be tapped, exploited and converted into value-added products.

Delivering the keynote address at an interactive session with Indian Commercial Representatives of CIS Countries, organised by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) here on Thursday, Mr P.K. Mahapatra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, said lack of awareness of each other's trade potential could be minimised through greater private sector business interaction with the eight resource-rich countries of the region.

`Focus-CIS'

Pointing out that most of the hurdles that existed earlier have now been removed under the `Focus-CIS' programme of the Government, he said international trade is now a partnership game, and governmental support is extended only through programmes such as the Market Access Initiative (MAI) for conducting market surveys and the Market Development Assistance (MDA) for product promotion through fairs, buyer-seller meets etc.

Asked if EEPC was thinking of setting up centralised warehousing in any one of the eight CIS countries, Mr R.P. Sehgal, Regional Chairman of the council, said once the beneficial fallout of the Chicago warehousing model was fully assimilated, which may take some six months or so, the council would try to replicate the model in the CIS region to push engineering exports in a big way.

He said among the CIS countries, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus are technically advanced, and "to enhance cooperation with these countries, we need to make concerted efforts."

According to him, both the speedy economic liberalisation measures adopted by the CIS countries and establishment of institutional mechanisms for mutual interaction and development of fast/direct shipping links to the region have contributed to increased Indo-CIS economic cooperation.