Friday, June 17 2005 15:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Jun 17, 2005) directed the Ministries to remove trade-related constraints faced by industry and work on the suggestions of the Board of Trade.

"Prime Minister has asked the different Ministries to work on the ideas suggested by the Board of Trade to address constraints faced by trade and industry," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said after the first meeting of the Board with the Prime Minister.

Members of the Board brought to Singh's notice the constraints faced by various sectors and those faced by the industry as a whole.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chairman of the Board and leading industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla said the Board has identified infrastructure bottlenecks and labour reforms as areas needing immediate attention.

"We also talked about the need for changing mindset, promoting manufacturing and strengthening the India brand at the global level," he said.

Nath said the trade target for the next five years has been set at $500 billion from the current $185 billion and the Board would chalk out a strategy to achieve it.

The thrust would be on increasing agricultural, marine and leather exports, he said, adding surging exports had generated additional one million jobs last year (2004).