Union Minister of Commerce and Industries, Piyush Goyal, visited Sikkim on Friday and held discussions with several government officials, farmers’ groups, tourism stakeholders, and representatives of industrial units. During his visit, Goyal expressed his happiness over the pace of infrastructure and connectivity development in Sikkim, including the ongoing demand to resume flights from Pakyong airport, which he believes will be addressed shortly by the Civil Aviation Minister.
Goyal also set an ambitious target of $1 billion worth of organic product exports from Sikkim by 2030. He met with the secretaries of 17 departments of the state to discuss Sikkim's progress and expressed pride in Sikkim being the nation's first 100% organic state. Goyal noted that the organic product export from the state currently only earns Rs 8 crore and aims to increase it to Rs 8,000 crore or $1 billion by 2030.
Goyal stated that the Commerce and Industries Ministry will support the development of organic product testing facilities with modern standards and a testing laboratory that will be set up on blockchain technology to account for traceability. Additionally, Goyal also suggested the involvement of more farmers and the setting up of Sikkim producers development companies or cooperative societies, startups, and more farmer producer organizations to bring a new wave of development to the state by 2030.
On the second day of his visit, Goyal plans to visit the Atal Incubation Centre, where he will interact with startup founders and students at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT). He is also scheduled to visit Budang FPS and interact with panchayats and the public at Tharpu village under Soreng district in West Sikkim, followed by a review meeting on the progress of Aspiration District with district officers. Goyal will leave for Delhi on February 19.