The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with a special focus on Foreign Trade, has been organising workshops for the last few years to spread awareness and facilitate the EXIM community.

The International Trade Committee, under the leadership of Mr. Sourabha Dutta, Senior Vice President - Industrial Sales & Marketing organised a workshop on "Future of International Trade 2018-2019 & new initiatives" on 18th December 2018 with the objective of updating exporters on the current World Trade Scenario, India's engagement with the Global economy, various changes and for enabling an in depth knowledge on Future Progress and initiatives.
According to WTO press release on 27th September 2018 :

• World merchandise trade volume is forecast to grow 3.9% in 2018, accompanied by global GDP growth of 3.1% at market exchange rates.
• Trade volume growth should slow to 3.7% in 2019 as global GDP growth dips to 2.9%.
• Rising trade tensions pose the biggest risk to the forecast, but monetary policy tightening and associated financial volatility could also destabilize trade and output.
• Trade-related indicators show a loss of momentum, including global export orders and economic policy uncertainty.
• North America had the fastest export growth and Asia had the strongest import growth in the first half of 2018 while resource-based economies still struggled.

Under this scenario, to have an in depth discussion and to provide a futuristic vision to the exporters or the EXIM community, the curriculum of the workshop was:

• Future of International Trade 2018-2019'
• Donald Trump and Alleged subsidies of seven billions - Latest information on the current scenario with respect to WTO compulsions.
• An overview of non-tariff barriers & Indian National Strategy for standardization - Technical Standards, Conformity Assessments etc.
• Draft Agricultural Policy
• Some important changes with respect to shipping bill, bill of entry , Assessment & Trade Facilitation Agreement {Budget 2018-19)

Some of points for future progress - new initiatives for International Trade by India that were discussed in the workshop were:

• Indian industry has to rise to the challenge of higher standards in the area of both products and services, and the framework of rules.
• Government proposes to focus on improvement of trade infrastructure in the region.
• Future plans which include extensive use of social media channels and Google network to reach international audiences.
• Department of Commerce has launched a new Scheme TIES {Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme). TIES will seek to bridge the export infrastructure gap by providing assistance for setting up and up-gradation of infrastructure with strong export linkages.
• A new institution, namely, the Centre for Research on International Trade with three distinct centres for WTO Studies, Regional Trade and Trade Investment Law has been established for strengthening India's research capabilities in the area of international trade and enabling better articulation of India's views and concerns from a well-informed position of strength.
• The Department of Commerce has set up a new Division to promote integrated and streamlined logistics development in the country.
• With the signing of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) at the WTO, the resulting procedural simplification would also contribute to the lowering of transaction costs.

The faculty for the workshop was Mr. Sudhakar Kasture who is currently the Director of Helpline Impex Pvt. Ltd. and EXIM Institute (A Division of Helpline Impex Pvt. Ltd.), Mumbai and Partner of Generation Next Business Consulting. He is also a visiting faculty to various institutes like S. P. Jain Institute of Management Studies & Research, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association of India, Training colleges of various banks, ECGC of India Ltd., etc. He has also served as an expert on task force for "Exports Transaction Cost Reduction Project" constituted by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GOI.

The workshop was attended by representatives from corporate like Tata Metaliks, Tata Steel, Exide Industries Limited, IVL Dhunseri Petrochem Industries Pvt. Limited, Vesuvius India Limited, DIC, Ambrosia, TSPDL and others.