Commerce Ministry looking at ways to increase its bandwidth to negotiate free trade pacts

NEW DELHI: With a number of countries approaching India for negotiating bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) to boost economic ties, the Commerce Ministry is looking at ways to increase its bandwidth for undertakingthesetimeandhuman resourceconsumingtalks,asenior officialsaid.

The Commerce Ministry officials at present are negotiating several FTAs with countries including the UK,CanadaandEuropeanUnion.

“Negotiations are really time consuming and energy consuming and human resource consuming. Therefore,wearetryingtoincrease the bandwidth within the Commerce Department,” the Governmentofficialsaid.

Indian Trade Service Officers areexpectedtobeengagedmorein the negotiations of free trade agreements.

Latin American countries such asPeruarealsointerestedindoing an FTA with India and India is also looking deeply into that, the official said.

South American trade bloc MERCOSURisalsokeentoexpand the scope of existing preferential trade agreements to an FTA. India and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) group is also looking to negotiateatradepact.

India has also expressed an interest to do these negotiations bilaterally or individually with Africa.

MERCOSUR comprises Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay with Bolivia and Chile as associate members. It was formed in 1991 withtheobjectiveoffreemovement of goods, capital, services and peopleintheregion.

Accordingtoatradeexpert,inan FTA,theDepartmentofCommerce leads the team. The important Ministries which are involved in these negotiations include the departmentsofrevenue,chemicals, pharma, fertiliser, textiles, heavy industries, and the department for promotion of industry and internal trade(DPIIT).

As new subjects like e-commerce, labour, environment, gender and sustainability are entering into these agreements, officers dealing with these issues from different ministries are playing an important role in the negotiations.

Institutes like Centre for WTO Studies, private experts and lawyers too get engaged in these talks.

The Commerce Ministry is planning to restructure the department and as part of that, thereisaproposaltosetupaGlobal Trade Promotion Organization (GTPO).

GTPO is a key recommendation of a report for revamping the DepartmentofCommerce.GTPOis expectedtoplayakeyroleinfuture export promotion initiatives in the country. The proposed body would be manned by the trade service officersatkeypositions,itadded.

Another expert said that the Government officials involved in these negotiations should carefully listen to the views of all the stakeholders and then act accordingly.

Trade negotiations with partner countries is a dynamic and continuous process for obtaining better market access for India’s exports and other business opportunities.