The Board of Trade, an advisory body on foreign trade policy, would meet next week to discuss ways to boost exports amidst falling global demand.

Exports in August were almost flat at $33bn from a year ago.

The ministry of commerce and industry has called the meeting on September 13 to take the suggestions of the captains of industry.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal will attend the meeting.

Top officials of the central ministries, the Niti Aayog, export promotion councils and all major industry bodies such as the CII, Ficci, Fieo, Assocham, MSME body FISME are represented on the Board of Trade.

Discussions in the meeting are expected to focus on the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP 2022-27) — to be launched later this month — and ways to take forward domestic manufacturing and exports.

The discussions will try to identify the areas of strong co-operation to improve export competitiveness of states.

It will also discuss various initiatives of the commerce and industry ministries.

The government will also seek suggestions and inputs to shape policies to support Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives and achieve the target of $1 trillion in exports each in goods and services by 2030.

The platform provides an opportunity to have regular discussions and consultations with trade and industry and advise the government on policy measures related to FTP in order to achieve the objective of boosting India’s trade.

It also provides a platform to states and UTs to articulate their perspective on trade policy, and also to the Centre for apprising them about international developments affecting India’s trade potential.