SME Times News Bureau | 01 Jan, 2020
In order to promote India-Africa trade and economic
relations, Ministry of Commerce and Industry regularly reviews India’s trade
with Africa through institutional mechanismslike Joint Commission Meetings
(JCMs), Joint Trade Committees (JTCs), and Joint Working Groups(JWGs), an
official release said on Wednesday.
The 9th Session of the India-Kenya Joint
Trade Committee was held in New Delhi on 19-20 August, 2019 under the
co-chairmanship of Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal and his
Kenyan counterpart Mr. Peter Munya, Cabinet Secretary (Minister) for Ministry
of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Government of the Republic of Kenya.
During the meeting, wide ranging discussions were
held cutting across sectors like MSME, Agriculture,
Information Communication Technology (ICT), Tourism, Administration of
Standards, Development of Human Resources in Higher Education, Science & Technology,
Investment Promotion and Protection, Air Services, Energy, Plastics, Textile,
Pharmaceuticals, Oil & Gas, Health, Immigration, Automobile and other
engineering products.
Collaboration in the field
of issue of recognition of Indian Pharmacopoeia in Kenya was also discussed.
The First India-Nigeria JTC was
held on 19th – 20th December, 2019 in New Delhi, under
the Co-chair of Commerce Secretary, Government of India and his Nigerian
counterpart.
During the meeting discussions
were held in various sectors including oil and natural gas, market access in
bovine meat, rice, recognition of pharmacopoeia, cooperation of SME sector,
higher education and power.
The first meeting of the
India-South Africa JWG on Trade and Investment was held in January, 2019, to
deliberate upon the bottlenecks including non-tariff barriers, and suggest the
way forward to further deepen India’s trade with the region.
The proposed India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic
Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) seeks to mutually benefit both
the countries, in the area of trade in goods, and trade in services.
Seven rounds of India-Mauritius CECPA negotiations
have been held till now. The 7th round was held during 19-23 November,
2018 in Mauritius.
On
the Occasion of World Cotton Day organized by WTO in Geneva on 7th
October, 2019, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India
announced the launch of Phase-II of C-TAP in 11 African countries.
The programme is aimed at enhancing productivity in cotton
sector, improving the post-harvest and plant by-products industry in the
participating countries, as well as building the capacity of the cotton-based
textile sector.
Department is currently working on implementation plan
inconsultation with stakeholders such as foreign counterparts through
IndianMissions, Ministry of External Affairs, institutes engaged in cotton
researchand capacity building activitiesinIndia.
In order to leverage the huge
presence of Indian business community in Africa for promoting India’s exports
to the region, three rounds of interactions of Minister of Commerce &
Industry were organized through Indian Missions with Indian business community
in Madagascar, Tanzania, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia,
Mozambique, Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Cote
d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Egypt over Digital Video Conference (DVC) in May, 2019.
For promoting India-Africa
trade and economic relations, a regional conclave was organised by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India
jointly with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in March, 2019 at
New Delhi.
On the sidelines of the
Conclave/Regional Conclave, bilateral meetings with participating countries
were also held at the Ministerial level to boost up Indian participation in
project exports opportunities in African countries.
The conclave was attended by
Head of the States from three African countries. More than two dozen Ministers
along with around 500 business delegates from Africa participated in the
Conclave.
