Directorate General of Foreign Trade(DGFT), Ministry of Commerce, in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and other Government Agencies today organized the National Conference on Strategic Trade Controls (NCSTC) 2025 focusing on India's Strategic Trade Control [related to Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (SCOMET) and Export Controls] system and its International Best Practices, for ensuring compliance related to the export of dual-use (industrial and military) goods, software and technologies.

The second edition of this conference in its new format, unlike the NCSTC held in New Delhi last year, is a two days’ event and has been organized by DGFT with larger international participation, and wider involvement of various organizations of Government of India, Industry stakeholders across the relevant sectors, Academia & Research Institutions. NCSTC 2025 has sectoral sessions focusing on specific sectors such as Electronics/IT, Biotechnology, Chemicals, Aerospace, Defence and also focuses on compliance by the Industry and the academia and research Institutes.

As part of India’s Strategic Trade Control system and in consonance with the relevant control lists, guidelines and provisions of the international conventions, mechanisms and regimes, India regulates the exports of dual use items, nuclear related items, and military items, including software and technology under the   list, which is notified by DGFT under the Foreign Trade Policy.

The Conference, which was attended by more than 550 participants from the Government, Industry and foreign delegations, on the first day will be witnessing the engagement of Indian Industry on Strategic Trade Control issues with key Government and Industry speakers as well as International experts in the field of Strategic Trade Controls. The conference is expected to be attended by more than 600 participants across 2 days.

The Conference focuses on underscoring the importance of effective strategic trade controls, showcasing India’s legal and regulatory system in this context, and exchanging best practices and relevant information on strategic trade controls, towards preventing the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems. Further, it will facilitate dialogue between Government authorities and Industry stakeholders, assessing and mitigating emerging risks associated with the export of sensitive goods and technologies, fostering international collaboration, gathering feedback from the Industry, etc.

In his remarks at the opening session, Shri Santosh Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade emphasized the importance of India's export control system in ensuring a robust, transparent process for high-tech exports. With IT-enabled processes, seamless licensing & wide industry outreach, India is ready to lead in the global economy while maintaining strong regulatory oversight.

During the keynote address of NCSTC by Ambassador Gyorgy Molnar, Head of Secretariat, Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) highlighted the role of the organisation in the international non-proliferation architecture on military and related dual-use items, effectiveness of multilateral controls in the current geo-political environment, and relevance of India’s participation in this context.

In her keynote address, Ms. Sarah Roberts, Australia Group (AG) Chair and Assistant Secretary, Australia’s DFAT underscored the regime’s contribution to non-proliferation framework of dual-use chemicals and biological items, how its work complements the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and India’s important role in the group considering the scale and compliance of Indian industry.

During the thematic sessions of the Conference, the Government officials provided detailed presentations and highlighted various aspects of India’s Strategic Trade Control system, including the legal and regulatory framework, the steps taken to streamline the SCOMET policy and licensing processes, the enforcement mechanism and supply chain compliance programs related to the export of dual-use goods and technologies. Panel discussions in all the Thematic Sessions focused on India’s industrial and technological capacity in specific sectors, Industry Experience and Compliance in those sectors and the sessions witnessed sharing of experiences by the key Industry leaders and experts dealing in export of dual-use goods and technologies in these sectors.

An updated Handbook on India’s Strategic Trade Controls prepared by DGFT was also released during the Conference. The handbook provides clarity to the Industry and other stakeholders regarding the relevant laws and regulations of the Government of India.

The inaugural session of the Conference was also addressed by Ms. Shubra, Additional DG, DGFT; Ms Arti Agarwal Srinivas, Chief Commissioner, Bengaluru Customs, Smt. Muanpuii Saiawi, Joint Secretary (D&ISA), Ministry of External Affairs;, Sh. Rakesh Kumar, Additional DGFT, Dr. Ajay Sahay, DG & CEO, Federation of Indian Export Organizations among others.

The Foreign Trade Policy 2023 recognizes the critical role of India’s Strategic Trade Control system and streamlined the policy and procedures related to SCOMET at one place for ease of understanding and compliance by the Industry. The SCOMET policy emphasizes India’s Strategic Trade Controls in line with its commitments under multilateral non-proliferation export control regimes and other international conventions. The focus is on streamlining policies to facilitate export of dual-use, high-end goods and technologies while ensuring the regulatory compliances and our security considerations.

The export of dual-use SCOMET items has seen substantial growth in the last few years with the value of the authorisations issued doubling in 2024 compared to 2023. Under SCOMET, authorisations valued 2.8 Billion USD have been issued by DGFT as compared to  authorizations worth 1.4 Billion USD issued in 2023.

 

*****

(Release ID: 2093579) Visitor Counter : 348