India for equitable and balanced trade deal with Europe: Goyal
Commerce Minister Goyal urges European nations to deepen economic engagement with India for reduced production costs and access to a growing market.
New Delhi: Commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday proposed that European nations deepen their economic engagement with India so as to reduce their production costs, enhance supply-chain reliability, and gain access to a burgeoning market. His comments, made at the India-Europe partnership for better sustainable future conclave organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, come at a time when New Delhi is intensely engaged with the United Kingdom, the European Union and the European Free Trade Association to sign separate free trade agreements.
Responding to the mention of various free trade agreements (FTAs) by other speakers , the minister said: “I can assure you, India negotiates with fairness, India negotiates with open mind, but India also takes care of its wider and larger interests in the long run.”
FTAs, bilateral investment treaties (BITs) or pacts on geographical indicators (GIs) will have to stand the tests of “fair, equitable and balanced” agreement,the minister added. Goyal’s comments assume importance at a time when New Delhi is separately negotiating FTAs with the UK, the EU and the EFTA involving total 32 countries. While EU is a group of 27 countries, EFTA has four members -- Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Two officials, working in different ministries, said on condition of anonymity that negotiations for two FTAs – the UK and the EFTA -- are at an advanced stage, and now require political approval. India is currently holding the seventh round of talks with the EU in New Delhi. And a high-level delegation led by commerce secretary is in London to iron out the UK deal, one of them said.
Goyal made it clear that India is negotiating trade deals from a position of strength and that the developed world has to gain from its association with the world’s fastest growing major economy. “We believe that FTAs or bilateral agreements have to be fair, equitable and balanced. Countries across the globe need to recognise that India as a rapidly growing country; it is poised to become a $35 trillion economy by 2047,” he said. The current size of the Indian economy is $3.7 trillion.
According to the minister, New Delhi is committed to sustainable development and environment protection, which are embedded in its civilization and culture, but he warned that the developed world must not try to mix non-trade issues in bilateral or multilateral trade talks. “We in India always believe that we are trustees of the earth” he said adding that the world must leave behind “a better planet for the next generation” but those who have been responsible for the mess must own up . Goyal is schedule to represent India at 13th Ministerial (MC13) of the World Trade Organisation from Monday in Abu Dhabi.
The minister’s comments are a reference to climate talks. He said the responsibilities and obligations on this matter must be shared equitably. “India continues to be the smallest contributor on per capita basis for the mess out there. We are not responsible for the mess in the first place at all, and I can assure all the participants, India will continue to be a very responsible country when it comes to the global effort to make the world a better place to live in,” he added.
He said India is blessed with demographic dividend as for the next 30 years, average age of Indians will be less than 30. “We are confident of the future. We are confident to continue providing political stability and decisive leadership,” he said offering what he termed a three-D vision -- democracy, demography and demand – to the world. Ageing population is one of the major cause of concerns for the developed world, particularly Europe, which would require young and efficient workforce to offer affordable goods and services in future.
“Today we have a new sense of enthusiasm to manufacture in India, to design and innovate in India, to become a hub of economic activity for other parts of the world. We are for an India with a conducive business climate where we focus on ease of doing business, reducing compliances and working in partnership with businesses across the world with a very strong and robust regulatory mechanism in place,” he said.
Speaking at the forum Juraj Blanár, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Slovak Republic said Slovakia, a member of the EU, is “interested in deepening the EU-India strategic partnership” and his country would like to see the successful conclusion of a “well-rounded” FTA.
“We would like to start the negotiations on FTA between EU and India which would be to the mutual benefit of both sides and about the investment protection agreement and the agreement on protecting the geographical indicators,” said Péter Szijjártó, foreign minister of Hungary, an EU country.
India and Germany are working closely to tackle climate change and to achieve sustainable growth and development, Tobias Lindner, minister of state, Federal Foreign Office, Germany said. He added that ongoing negotiations for EU -India FTA holds immense potential to amplify trade and foster economic integration.
According to CII’s data, Europe is India’s second largest trading partner with bilateral trade in excess of $185 billion in 2022-23 with $96.90 billion worth of exports. Europe accounts for 21.8% of India’s total exports.
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