CONFERENCE OF COMMERCIAL REPRESENTATIVES
OF INDIA FROM WEST ASIAN & NORTH AFRICAN (WANA) COUNTRIES
ON JUNE 3-7
A Conference of the
Commercial Representatives (CRs) of India from Amman (Jordan),
Abu Dhabi (UAE), Algiers (Algeria), Cairo (Egypt), Khartoum (Sudan),
Kuwait, Muscat (Oman), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Sana’a (Yemen),
Tehran (Iran) and Tel Aviv (Israel) is being held from 3rd
to 7th June 2003. This Conference is being organised
by the Department of Commerce in association with the Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Export Organisations
(FIEO) and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI).
During the Conference,
the CRs will interact with members of Trade and Business Associations,
Government Departments, banking and financial institutions like
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Export Credit Guarantee Corporation
(ECGC), EXIM BANK, Export Promotion Councils and exporters. The
Conference is expected to facilitate effective interaction between
the CRs and members of the business and trade community in the
country, which will help identify factors which hamper exports
to countries in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region and
to formulate market-specific measures to boost exports to the
countries in the region. The schedule is given below:
(a) Meeting in
Kolkata to be organised by CII 3. 6. 03
(b) Meeting in
Bangalore to be organised by FIEO 4. 6. 03
(c) Meeting in
Chennai to be organised by CII 5. 6. 03
(d) Meeting in
Mumbai to be organised by FICCI 6. 6. 03
(e) Meeting in
New Delhi to be organised by FIEO 7.6.03
During 2001-02,
exports to countries in the WANA region touched a figure of US$
5756.48 million, as compared to US$ 5560.88 million in 2000-01,
registering a small growth of 3.5%. Non-oil imports touched US$
3169.91 million in 2001-02 as against US$ 3047.39 million registering
an increase of 4%. However, During April 2002-February 2003,
exports to countries in the WANA region touched a figure of US$
6724.15 million as compared to US$ 5216.65 million in the same
period in the previous year, registering a growth of 28.9%.
Non-oil imports touched US$ 3205.11 million in April-February
2003 as against US$ 2926.82 million in the same period in the
previous year, registering an increase of 9.5 %.
WANA region
occupies an important position in India’s foreign trade accounting
for nearly 13.2% of India’s global exports. India’s principal
export products to this region comprise gems & jewellery,
textiles, yarn and apparels, manufactures of metals, rice, machinery
and instruments, meat and preparations, drugs, pharmaceuticals
and chemicals, tea etc. India’s principal imports from this region
consist of crude oil and petroleum products, inorganic and organic
chemicals, pearls and precious/semi-precious stones, metalliferrous
ores and metal scrap and fertilizers. On account of large imports
of oil, POL products and fertilizers from the region, there is
a large adverse balance of trade for India with the region as
a whole.
