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 system," Hegde said.

The commerce ministry team had consistedof the chairmen of the government-owned trading companies -- MMTC, State Trading Corporation 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 was 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 state governments toarrive 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 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 bureaucratic circles. "Cumbersome procedure is an in-built negative factor in our administration and 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.

Hegde and a top ministry official sounded sceptical on the 20 per cent export growth target, even as they exhorted industry to do better. On a defensive note,Hegde requested the industrialists to make full use of the opportunities available to them to reach the target. ``I have set a target of 20 per cent growth in exports. I have been called lotus-eater, impractical... I know that it is a high target and extremely difficult to achieve," Hegde said.

Even additional commerce secretary Rati Vinayak Jha felt that export performance will not be good this year. "One cannot expect very good exports this year because of the general depressionary trends," she said.