Commerce Secretary Rajiv Kher has said India should focus on increasing its trade with Latin America, Africa, the BRICS nations and certain countries in the Asean bloc to counter the challenge posed by the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).

The TPP is a trade and economic agreement being worked out by 12 members, including developed members such as the US, the EU, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and developing countries such as Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.

"The TPP is extremely important and there will be preference erosion for us in markets such as the US and EU once it is implemented. But we cannot ignore the rest of the world and should focus on increasing our trade with other partners," Kher said at a conference organised by CII.

The Commerce Secretary said India had not explored to the fullest potential trade prospects with BRICS nations, especially Russia and China.

He said Latin America, too, had huge potential as India's exports to the region were just 3.3 per cent of total exports. "Although Brazil and Argentina have turned protectionist, there are so many other countries in the region that can be tapped," he said.

Similarly, Africa, which accounts for about 10 per cent of India's exports, holds a lot of unrealised promise.

Kher said India was not invited to join the TPP by any country nor did it know what was happening in the negotiations. But it was important for India to do the preparatory work and become more competitive.

Kher said India should focus on improving support infrastructure such as digitisation, logistics, trade facilitation and cutting down procedures, to build on its inherent strengths.

It can also gain competitiveness through an integration process with its neighbours and extended neighbours.

"For instance, India can tie up with countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam that have institutional arrangements with bigger markets where we have not been able to make in-roads," he said.

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