India-CLMV need to promote economic integration: Commerce Minister
India needs to promote its greater connectivity and economic integration with the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) countries as they together can play a significant role in their economic revival despite the global slowdown, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. “The trade links and ties between India and the CLMV countries can be much better, and the two governing principles, connectivity and economic integration with regional value chains are crucial. With the world economy falling, it will depend on CMLV countries and India for revival,” the Minister said at the 3rd India – CLMV Business Conclave in Chennai on Wednesday. India’s current trade with the CLMV countries stands at $11 billion and the country has the potential of about $100 billion of additional exports to the region. The government’s initiatives such as establishing tri-lateral highway, improving connectivity in the North East, restructuring ports and the scaling Act East policy are steps in the right direction. Sitharaman also underlined that there is a need for the Indian banks to establish their branches overseas and the proposal of a project development fund and duty-free tariffs, important instruments to handhold manufacturing units in the CLMV countries. “While globally FDIs are falling, last year India had 38% growth in FDI, which shows the investors’ confidence in India,” the minister said. Cambodia’s Senior Finance Minister Sun Chanthol also highlighted the urge to share best practices and strengthen businesses ties between India and the ASEAN countries. “The trade investment between India and the ASEAN countries is crucial since the CLMV countries cover 32% of the ASEAN region and has a huge market for Indian products and with a 165 million strong population. This will attract considerable amount of FDI from India,” the Cambodian minister said. “We see problems in connectivity, banking, and actual physical movement of people in trade and business collaborations. We are also looking at physical land connectivity to the CLMV countries through the North-East region,” said Ravi Capoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce. The event was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to focus on India – CLMV Economic Integration: Developing Regional Value Chains.
January 14, 2016 | 03:30pm IST
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