New Delhi, Dec 15 (FN Bureau) Amid a growing debate over India’s rush to expedite and conclude negotiations for a slew of free trade agreements, Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said on Tuesday that with trade and economy rebounding across the world quickly, resulting in the developed countries evolving into consumers, India was opportunely poised to place its economy on to a faster growth orbit and expand its exports. “New generation FTAs will bring down protectionist barriers significantly,” Subrahmanyam told industry stalwarts at the CII Partnership Summit organised virtually in partnership with Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Addressing a session on new direction of India’s FTA strategy at the Partnership Summit 2021, Subrahmanyam said that for India which is the only major economy which has not signed major inter-regional agreement at present, the FTA negotiations assume increased importance. India is negotiating several FTAs which will be concluded over the next year.
Unlike previous times, Subrahmanyam pointed out, India was now working towards new generation FTAs with advanced economies such as UK, Australia, EU, and UAE, which aim towards bringing tremendous access to new markets while bringing down the protectionist barriers significantly. Stating that it is now time to look at the global markets, the Commerce Secretary suggested that to fully reap the benefits of the FTAs, industry will have to develop active market orientation along with market intelligence, increased focus on value addition, moving up the value chain and bringing in quality products and branding. Diego Llosa, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Peru, informed that in the last 25 years, the has maintained a trade policy based on the principle of openness and trade liberalisation to promote economic growth and development and participate in the global value chain. Apprising about Peru’s ongoing FTA negotiations with India which is Peru’s 4th trading partner in Asia, he highlighted that the agreement will help strengthen the economic and commercial relations between the two countries. According to Harsha Vardhana Singh, former DDG, WTO, for integration of Indian producers into global value with higher addition, more than just trade policy changes need to be considered.