Naveen Gupta
Faridabad, 14 Feb.: An Exporters & Buyers Meet was organised on 13th February (Friday) at the 29th Surajkund International Crafts Mela with the help of Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts in coordination with Haryana Tourism Corporation Limited.
The purpose of this Meet was to endorse various arts and crafts and make them available directly to the exporters without any help from ‘middlemen’ or ‘agencies’. It was a unique opportunity for the 70 craftspersons and weavers to present their products to about 10 exporters who came here to be a part of this Meet. This initiative is particularly important for the artisans for educating them to improvise their product and skill to make their product acceptable and sellable.
Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) under the aegis of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India is a non-profit organisation. It has created necessary infrastructure as well as marketing and information facilities, which are availed both by the member exporters and importers.
“The Council is engaged in promotion of handicrafts in India and project India’s image abroad as a reliable supplier of high quality handicrafts. Under our scheme ‘Vriksh’, we help craftspersons export wooden and timber items, which requires legalised certification
to be procured from the Director General for Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Govt of India,” stated A.K. Sukhija, Deputy Director, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts. He further added that the Surajkund International Crafts Mela provided an ideal platform for EPCH to advocate commercially viable information and offer assistance to craftspersons to export their products.
He also informed that they will be organising handicrafts Gift Show at Noida from January 20-23 and offer assistance to craftspersons who face problems in customs for shipping their products. Such endeavours help the craftspersons to make their product more sellable in the commercial market, stated one of the craftspersons.