When Kamal Nath took over five years back, the world economy was booming. Many countries are in recession now. Nath had to mainly stall the negotiations at the World Trade Organization but Sharma will have to take the Doha Development Round forward.
The concerns about environment and public health are slowly gaining ground in the matter of imports and exports also.
The terrorist attacks on Mumbai pose fresh challenges for the Customs. Rethinking on all the customs clearance procedures is now necessary with a view to eliminate all risks of any untoward incidence that can jeopardise the lives of people. The present approach of looking only at revenues and trade facilitation alone will not be enough.