Ranchi, Aug. 3: An export promotion organisation of the Union ministry of commerce is setting up an office in Ranchi next week to boost Jharkhand’s efforts to reach out to the world with its bouquet of silk products, handicrafts and automobile parts.

The office of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) will be inaugurated by chief minister Arjun Munda on August 8 at a function to be held at a city hotel.

Anup Kumar Pujari, director general of foreign trade (DGFT), will be present that day and hold an interactive session with existing and prospective exporters of Jharkhand and Bihar on issues related to foreign trade.

Ajay Sahai, director general and chief executive officer of FIEO, will also be there.

According to local FIEO coordinator Suman Kumar Mukhopadhyay, the office will operate from the fifth floor of a posh building at Ranchi Industrial Area Development Authority (Riada) at Namkum Industrial Area on the outskirts of the state capital.

On its various functions, Mukhopadhyay said the office would facilitate paper work for prospective exporters, be it for getting an export-import code (EIC) by DGFT or writing recommendation letters for visas for local entrepreneurs.

The FIEO, he added, would also help exporters hook up with their counterparts in the region and customers abroad.

The seeds of the idea to set up such a facilitation centre were sown at a conference held in May when FIEO deputy director general Debdatta Nandwani had promised to open an office in Ranchi.

The FIEO office is well-timed, given that Jharkhand is pursuing two important projects that have the potential to alter the industrial landscape of the state.

A Rs 113 crore mega food park is being set up in Ranchi by the Union ministry of food processing in association with a group of entrepreneurs who have already formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

An automobile SEZ is also on the anvil in Adityapur Industrial Area near Jamshedpur. At present, exports from Jharkhand are primarily routed through ports in Bengal and clubbed with that of the neighbouring state.

Among the primary exporters from Jharkhand are Jharcraft (silk and handicrafts products), Tajna Shellac (lac products) and a couple of automobile ancillaries in Adityapur Industrial Area.