Comm min working to boost trade in sub-Saharan Africa, Gulf nations

New Delhi: The Commerce Ministry is working to address issues related to non-tariff barriers and market access for domestic products in sub-Saharan African countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Gulf nations to boost India’s exports, an official said.

The official said meetings have been held with Indian missions of the sub-Saharan African countries with which India has significant bilateral trade.

The major trading partners of India in that region in 2022-23 were South Africa (total trade $18.9 billion, exports $8.5 billion); Nigeria ($11.85 billion, exports $5.15 billion); Togo ($6.6 billion, exports $6 billion), and Tanzania ($6.5 billion, exports $3.93 billion).

The other countries were Mozambique ($5 billion, exports $2.5 billion); Angola ($4.22 billion, exports $621 million); and Kenya ($3.4 billion, exports $3.2 billion).

“A virtual meeting with Indian Mission of top 10 countries (bilateral trade-wise) in sub-Saharan African region was held in September to discuss the overall economic and commercial relations with those countries, export performance and non-tariff barriers which are acting as impediments to bilateral trade and enhance exports,” the official said.

A similar meeting was also held with Indian Missions in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. The council is the largest trading bloc of India.

The bilateral trade in 2022-23 with these countries stood at $52.76 billion with Saudi Arabia; $84.8 billion with the UAE; $18.77 billion with Qatar; $13.8 billion with Kuwait; and $12.4 billion with Oman.

The ministry has asked exporters to focus on potential key sectors such as food, electronics and engineering, and major markets to boost exports. It has suggested focus on organising fairs and exhibitions at global scale.

India’s merchandise exports rose 6.21 per cent to $33.57 billion in October this year, even as the trade deficit touched a record high of $31.46 billion during the month.

Imports increased 12.3 per cent to $65.03 billion during the month due to a jump in gold imports.

Cumulatively, exports during the April-October period this fiscal contracted 7 per cent to $244.89 billion, while imports fell 8.95 per cent to $391.96 billion.

The trade deficit during the seven-month period was $147.07 billion against $167.14 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) in its report, released in August, has said India needs to act in a fast-track manner for removal of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) being faced by domestic exporters in different countries to achieve one trillion dollar outbound shipment target for goods by 2030.

Key Indian exports that face high barriers include ceramic tiles in Egypt; and microbiological regents in Saudi Arabia, the report added.

Most Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) are domestic rules created by countries with an aim to protect human, animal or plant health and environment.

NTM may be technical measures like regulations, standards, testing, certification, pre-shipment inspection or non-technical measures like quotas, import licensing, subsidies, government procurement restrictions.

When NTMs become arbitrary, beyond scientific justification, they create hurdles for trade and are called NTBs.