Exports growth constrained by poor Air and Sea Port connectivity in Odisha: MSME Principal Secretary Sahu

Bhubaneswar, 9 Dec (KNN) A regional workshop on export promotion was held on Wednesday at the office of Joint Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in Bhubaneswar.

Speaking on the occasion, Satyabrata Sahu, Principal Secretary of MSME department expressed his views on how in spite of Odisha’s huge export capacity, the eastern state is lagging behind many others due to lack of infrastructure support.

He also pressed on the direct air connectivity to foreign countries, availability of shipping liners at Paradip Port and development of other ports will help boost exports from the State, as published in New Indian Express. 

“To enhance exports from Odisha, ports at Paradip, Gopalpur and Dhamra will be vital as it will also  provide to the needs of land-locked states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and the North East region,” he added.

Emphasising on Chairman on export target of USD 400 billion from the country in the current fiscal, M Angamuthu of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), said “Rice contributes around 40 per cent of the total global trade, there is a huge potential for export of agriculture and marine products in Odisha.”

Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena highlighted the importance of coordination between the Centre and State to achieve the objective of five trillion dollar economy and said startups will be an important instrument for economic growth.

Further, the Principal Secretary of Industries Hemant Sharma said Odisha is very proactive in industrialisation and upgradation of infrastructure has been its constant endeavour. “The sea food park and IT park at Bhubaneswar along with the testing laboratories are the recent initiatives taken by the government,” he said.

Economic Advisor of Department of Commerce at the Centre C Vanlalramsanga, explaining India’s merchandise export, said that it is growing at a higher growth in the post-pandemic period.

“Its share in international trade is only 1.7 per cent which shows there is a tremendous scope for merchandise export from the country,” added Vanlalramsanga.

Some of the Eastern and North East states like Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland participated in the workshop.

WODC Chairman Asit Tripathy, Handlooms and Textiles Secretary Sobha Sarma and APEDA Director Tarun Bajaj were also present and shared their insights.