The country's merchandise exports are expected to reach USD 450 billion by the end of this fiscal despite geo-political challenges like the Red Sea crisis, newly elected president of apex exporters body FIEO Ashwani Kumar said on Tuesday. He said that the need of the hour is to address the Red Sea crisis challenges by ensuring the availability of marine insurance and rational increase in freight charges. The exporting sector, particularly, MSMEs, needs easy and low-cost credit, and marketing support to further boost the country's exports, Kumar said, adding early conclusion of free trade agreements such as with the UK and Oman will also help push the outbound shipments. "I will focus on addressing issues of MSMEs as they are going to play. They will play a key role in achieving the USD 1 trillion goods export target by 2030. They are the backbone of the economy and they are facing certain issues pertaining to credit. I would urge banks to come forward in extending support to these