Kochi: The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed the announcements in the third supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy.

In a statement here, the Indian Chamber of Commerce said that while releasing the third Annual Supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy 2004-2009, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath had well appreciated the task of the exporting community in braving the challenges to achieve the targets set by the Government. The expansion of Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana (VKGUY) to include coconut oil, meals and flours, cardamom, food preparations, artistic wooden furniture, herbal extracts of forest products, etc., and the new scheme for giving incentives to the agro-processing sector and allocation of more than 50 per cent of the existing provision for the Focus Product Scheme (FPS) covering 16 new countries, including 10 former CIS countries, were steps in the right direction.

The statement said the special focus given to Handloom, Handicrafts, Cottage and Tiny Industries with a view to modernising these mostly rural-based activities and scale up operations to meet the market challenges were beneficial to the State. Support to the cottage and tiny industrial sector by extending the export obligation period under the EPCG scheme by four years were measures of particular interest to Kerala.

The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also hailed the annual supplement 2007 to the foreign trade policy (2004-09).

In a press release here, the Chamber said the stability of trade policy regime had yielded positive results.

The Chamber welcomed the Commerce Ministry's initiatives to provide further momentum to exports growth by encouraging agro exports and employment generation in the agriculture sector.

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