Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has requested the States to consider organizing bi-monthly meetings with the exporters in their States to sort out their infrastructure and tax related issues. <br/><br/>Speaking at the 2nd meeting of Council for Trade Development and Promotion in New Delhi today, Ms Sitharaman said, this would go a long way in improving the trade competitiveness. The Minister also requested the States to enhance their co-operation with Central Agencies for setting up common facilities like testing labs, training institutes as well as packaging and storage support to industry. <br/><br/>The Minister said, there is an immediate need to synergize the efforts and jointly take appropriate steps to boost India's exports – which is the only sustainable way in today's international trade environment. She, however, said, since last January the government has managed to contain the trade deficit due to controls on imports.