Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said the BIMSTEC members should re-examine the priorities of member nations with regards to trade negotiations so that the delayed Free Trade Agreement can be finalized.

Speaking on the situation in Bangladesh, the Piyush Goyal expressed deep concern over the developments and wished for a bright future and a smooth transition of governance for the nation.

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The minister was delivering his speech at the inaugural edition of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Business Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Ministry of External Affairs.

“There is a need to reassess the reasons behind the delay in the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement.”

He said that the members need to come up with a set of cogent recommendations that are acceptable to all seven countries.

The minister further called for the Trade Negotiating Committee and the business community to consider a preferential trade agreement to begin with to foster intra-regional trade and investment and enhance regional competitiveness.

He called upon the BIMSTEC members to introspect on the current trading relations noting that trade among the BIMSTEC countries is small. There’s a long way to go before we can achieve its full potential, he said.

The minister called for deeper integration amongst the member nations to provide honest feedback and help strengthen trade facilitation and cross-border movement of goods. He further said that there should be a focus on reducing trade deficit, strengthening of trade facilitation measures to strengthen partnership in e-commerce, digital public infrastructure and better integration of custom borders with the aid of technology.

Piyush Goyal noted that there is a need for computerisation of border controls, faster clearances of the import-export online application processes which will help in Ease of Doing Business.

“There should be a focus on strengthening supply chains, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, strengthening of trade facilitation measures by adopting international norms and seamless transport connectivity, essential to unleashing the full potential of trade and investment cooperation among the BIMSTEC Member States.”

On Blue Economy, he said the member states have a thriving blue economy or demand of ocean products enhancing livelihoods and job creation while preserving marine and coastal ecosystems.

He further said that regional value chains can add to agricultural and mineral produce to become a developed region.