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Calcutta, Aug 22: India and five South-East Asian countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are meeting on August 26 in Singapore to work out a system of counter-trade that will help them tide over the economic crisis in the region.
This was announced by union commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde at an interactive session organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry here on Saturday.
Asked about progress on the barter system that he had proposed a few months ago, Hegde said a high-level Indian team had visited each country. The August 26 meeting will be attended by an additional secretary from the commerce ministry. He said that owing to the economic crisis there is no liquidity but every country is in need of goods. "A meeting has been convened on August 26, specifically to discuss this issue. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and India will be participating in the meeting to work out a kind of system," Hegde said.
The commerce ministry team had Calcutta, Aug 22: India and five South-East Asian countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are meeting on August 26 in Singapore to work out a system of counter-trade that will help them tide over the economic crisis in the region.
This was announced by union commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde at an interactive session organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry here on Saturday.
Asked about progress on the barter system that he had proposed a few months ago, Hegde said a high-level Indian team had visited each country. The August 26 meeting will be attended by an additional secretary from the commerce ministry. He said that owing to the economic crisis there is no liquidity but every country is in need of goods. "A meeting has been convened on August 26, specifically to discuss this issue. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and India will be participating in the meeting to work out a kind of system," Hegde said.
The commerce ministry team hadconsisted of the chairmen of the government-owned trading companies -- MMTC, State Trading Corp and MSTC. Regarding the value of the rupee, Hegde said the government has decided not to interfere in the movement of the rupee.
He said that the right value of rupee cannot be determined by unilateral opinion. "However, I must say that rupee has regained its value, you have to appreciate that. Rupee is strong but we will have to increase our exports to make it stronger," Hegde said. The minister also stated that devaluation is not the only option to boost exports. Instead, he asked, "Should we not feel proud that our currency has not depreciated in comparison to the South-East Asian currencies?"
Hegde said he is convening a meeting of the chief ministers and finance ministers of states to discuss sales tax, octroi and other duties imposed on exporters by state governments.
"A state government is a separate entity and the centre does not have any role. However, in this meeting, I will ask the stategovernments to arrive at an uniform rates of sales tax, octroi and others in the long run," Hegde said.
Infrastructure problems faced by the exporters were another issue touched upon by the minister. Hegde said that he discussed it with the prime minister and a separate infrastructure ministry is likely to be set up by the Union government. The commerce minister criticised the cumbersome procedures for exports and the negative attitude of the bureaucratic circles.
"Cumbersome procedure is an in-built negative factor in our administration and in it is not only in exports but everywhere. We have an inherent negative outlook in the bureaucracy nurtured by the Britishers. This outlook has to change drastically. The higher level bureaucrats are forward looking and responsible but the trouble is at the lower level and this is the main reason for our lagging behind," Hegde said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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