Cabinet secretary to chair committee on trade facilitation

NEW DELHI: The government is set to name the cabinet secretary as the head of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation as he would be better placed to sort out inter-ministerial issues should they arise, a senior official privy to the development has told ET.

The decision to set up the committee was taken by the Union Cabinet last month when it approved the World Trade Organization’s trade facilitation agreement ( TFA), which seeks to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit.

The cabinet had also decided to appoint the commerce and revenue secretaries as joint chair of the committee, which has been given the task to coordinate and implement the provisions of trade facilitation.

“Since there will be inter-ministerial issues between the commerce and finance ministries in implementing the agreement, the government has decided that the cabinet secretary will chair it,” said the official quoted earlier.

Another official said that the commerce and revenue secretaries will now be members of the committee.

“We will form the terms of reference for the committee after taking suggestions from industry associations and border states,” the second official said, adding that India will ratify the TFA soon.

The commerce department also plans to take on board the suggestions of big states like Maharashtra as a lot of trade takes place at the Nhava Sheva port of the state.

The trade facilitation agreement, which is part of the WTO's Bali ministerial package of 2013, also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. It will come into force after it is formally accepted by two-thirds of the WTO membership.