New Delhi, Aug 29: The centre government has declared Srinagar and Islamabad as ‘Towns of Export Excellence’ for handicrafts to give major boost to handicraft industry in J&K.
 This will boost exports of handicrafts  from the state and generate more jobs in export oriented industries, which suffered due to global economic recession in the past two years.
 This was unveiled in the new five-year foreign trade policy (FTP), which was released by Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma  here last evening
 Jaipur has also been included along with two important districts in the Towns of Excellence.
 The government has also simplified procedures for export of handicrafts and other items. Sample piece has been increased from 15 to 50.
 Handicrafts has been backbone of  the state economy but it suffered immensely in the past two decades due to political turmoil. By declaring Srinagar and Islamabad as Town of Excellence for handicrafts, the centre in collaboration with the state government would offer many schemes for promotion of handicrafts.
 The short term objective of the trade policy is to arrest and reverse the  declining trend of exports and to provide additional support especially to those sectors which have been hit badly by recession.
 The government has set an ambitious target of 200 billion dollars worth exports for the next fiscal year, which the country could not achieve due to slump last year.
 The export reached a level of 168 billion dollars in the last financial year from Rs 63 billion dollars in 2003-04.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:00:00 IST