Centre for increasing exports from North-East

Kolkata, June 20 (UNI) The Centre will give stress to tea, horticulture and handicrafts sector in the North East to accelerate exports from the region, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said today.

''We are trying to accelerate tea exports from the North-East to Iran, Egypt and Pakistan. We are also giving stress to horticulture and handicrafts sector,'' Ramesh told reporters after a meeting with members of FICCI.

In collaboration with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), the Centre was planning to set up cold storage facilities in Guwahati, Agartala, Dimapore and Imphal, he said.

Efforts were on to increase border trading posts with Bangladesh, Myanmar and China to improve exports from the North-East, he said.

Senior government representatives of North-East states, Commerce Ministry officials and representatives from Bangladesh would meet on August 19 in Agartala to discuss ways to improve trade through the region, he said.

Mr Ramesh said the Bangladesh-based Nitol group was planning to set up a paper factory in Bangladesh with bamboo from Mizoram.

''Exports from North-East stood at Rs 1,000 crore last year. Tea and coal occupied bulk of the exports from the region,'' he said.

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