FFFAI attends first NCTF meeting; urges for proper implementation of all existing systems
Nov 17, 2016: The first meeting of the recently constituted National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) was called by the Cabinet Secretary, Government of India to design the structure and working pattern of NCTF.
On the government’s behalf, the meeting was attended by secretaries of different departments and ministries while the industry associations were represented by Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) and other chambers.
During the meet, the government’s initiatives on trade facilitation were lauded by the FFFAI.
“Wonderful work had been done by various Departments in bringing about a change. All the initiatives were noteworthy and welcomed by Industry. It is however, to be noted that the change is not seen by all users and hence it appears that the implementation of the changes has not taken place. There is a gap between the intent of the government and reality on the ground,” said Samir J Shah, chairman, FFFAI.
Shah also opined that while infrastructure would take time to develop there should be a target on proper implementation of all the existing systems and uniform operations across the country. He also emphasized that all decisions should be taken after consultations with stakeholders.
The FFFAI Chairman also maintained that India does not have a concept of proper certification of personnel which needs to be the case for proper execution of processes. To address the same, it would be important that the Skill Ministry is sensitized to include Logistics in all formats for training. “FFFAI would be happy to be associated with any study to be done to bring about a uniformity of process,” Shah stressed.
Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha also urged all industry associations to form a working committee in their respective organisation on NCTF consisting of experts from shipping, road transport, highways, railways, air transport, export and import procedures, taxes and duties, legal issues and other issues pertaining to trade. Experts will be working as nodal point of contact for all matters pertaining to NCTF.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February, 2016 approved the Proposal for Notification of Commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of World Trade Organization (WTO).
