The government has set up an inter-ministerial group to monitor developments in West Asia on a daily basis and assess potential vulnerabilities in shipping, logistics, exports and critical imports, even as the external affairs ministry admitted that the conflict would affect the Indian economy.
The remarks assume significance as Israel said it continues to strike Iran with force, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Ebrahim Jabbari warned that “all economic centres” in the Middle East if the US-Israeli attacks continued. "Our pilots are over the skies of Iran and Tehran, and also over the skies of Lebanon. Hezbollah made a very big mistake when it attacked us. We have already responded forcefully, and we will respond with even greater force,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying.
"We have set up an inter-ministerial group that meets on a daily basis and is closely monitoring the developments in West Asia to assess any vulnerabilities -- in our shipping, in our logistics, in our export or even critical imports and we will coordinate with inter-ministerial actions," Goyal said while addressing a post-Budget webinar.
"We shall work on those, and we continue to look for your valued suggestions in the ministry of commerce so that we can ensure the minimal impact of the West Asia crisis," he added.
In a social media post, the minister said the meeting was held with all stakeholder ministries, key logistics and trade facilitation partners to review the emerging geopolitical situation and its potential impact on India's exports and imports.
"The Modi government's readiness to facilitate trade operations was reiterated through measures such as procedural flexibility in export-related authorisations; coordination with customs and port authorities to ensure smooth clearance; and engagement with financial and insurance institutions to safeguard exporter interests," he said.
In this context, he said the 'inter-ministerial group (IMG) for supply chain resilience' has been created, comprising members from department of financial services, ministry of external affairs, ministry of shipping, ports and waterways, ministry of petroleum and natural gas and central board of indirect taxes & customs, to facilitate effective coordination, monitoring and follow-up.
In this context, he said the 'inter-ministerial group (IMG) for supply chain resilience' has been created, comprising members from department of financial services, ministry of external affairs, ministry of shipping, ports and waterways, ministry of petroleum and natural gas and central board of indirect taxes & Customs, to facilitate effective coordination, monitoring and follow-up.
