Aug 20: India has to shed its big brother attitude and come to terms with the South Asian realities to engineer a jump in intra-Saarc trade and investment. This was stated by director of the Research and Information Systems (RIS) V R Panchmukhi at a seminar in New Delhi. He said the non-tariff barriers imposed by India are creating avoidable apprehensions in the minds of other Saarc countries. In the case of Sri Lanka, India's exports have grown over five years by 500 per cent but Sri Lanka's exports to India were nearly stagnant during this period.

Jute scientists' plea: Jute scientists and industrialists have urged the West Bengal government to start using jute geotextiles to prevent soil erosion and for building roads. At a workshop on jute geotextiles held here on Tuesday, Singapore-based geotechnical and geosynthetic consultant S D Ramaswamy said that India could learn from Indonesia which used jute geotextiles in large quantities. India need not have to manufacture jute geotextiles for exports because the foreign exchange reserves are fine. Instead we can use it for our own purpose. If it cannot do any good to the soil, it will not do any harm also, the scientists noted.

Multi-purpose link: The electronic data interchange (EDI) pilot project has linked the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), the Delhi Customs and individual exporters. A press release from FIEO said that director general of foreign trade SB Mohapatra inaugurated the system in Delhi on Tuesday.

Sea food exports: The union commerce ministry has put the onus on seafood exporters to meet the quality standards set by European Union and the United States of America. Joint Secretary in the ministry of commerce JM Acharya said in Kochi that each exporter should strive to achieve the standards and will have to declare his readiness to be inspected by the EU team. Acharya held a meeting with the exporters and officials of the Marine Products Export Development Authority.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.