The Commerce Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, today stressed the need to dismantle existing trade barriers to ensure free flow of goods, services and manpower.

This is necessary particularly in the backdrop of tough global economic environment and growing inter-dependence on each other for goods and services, he felt.

Speaking at the 18th CII-Partnership Summit now under way here, Mr Sharma said with the Doha Round of talks not making much headway, there needs to be some serious introspection about the way to tackle flow of trade.

“Any artificial protectionism will be counterproductive,” he felt.

In this unpredictable global environment, where everyone is looking at new wave of innovations to stay competitive, there is greater need to share the technology, knowledge and knowhow which will ensure growth. He felt there is need to link productivity to innovation.

The Government's new manufacturing policy was likely to be a game-changer and is expected to transform India. This initiative assumes significance due to global cross-currents leading to jobless growth. The country is looking at increasing the contribution of manufacturing sector from 16 per cent of GDP to 26 per cent in a decade possibly creating 100 million jobs, the Union Minister said.

Investment zones

By providing for single window clearance, the focus would be to attract investments by creation of large manufacturing and investment zones, which serve as townships. The Government plans to set up seven such investment zones. While some of them would come up along the Delhi-Mumbai corridor, one of them is likely be in Andhra Pradesh. “I have had discussions with the AP Chief Minister, Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, on the proposed manufacturing zone,” he said.

According to AP Government sources, the State has identified 5,000 hectares along the Rajiv Rahadari - a busy traffic corridor between Hyderabad and Karimnagar for the project, which overlaps three districts.

Earlier, Mr Goh Chok Tong, Emeritus Senior Minister of Singapore, Ms Sheikha Lubna Bin Khalid Al Qasimi, Trade Minister of UAE, Ms Gita Irawan Wirjawan, Trade Minister of Indonesia, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, and senior functionaries of the CII spoke about various issues relating to trade barriers and opportunities for collaboration and investment.

The AP Major Industries Minister, Ms J. Geetha Reddy, announced that the State has received 233 proposals worth Rs 5,00,057 crore, with employment potential of 4.7 lakh people during the Summit.

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