India to enter FTAs on own terms; in no hurry: Piyush Goyal
31 Oct 2019
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India will not enter into any free trade agreement (FTA) or economic partnership in a rush as any free trade agreement has to be a two-way arrangement and a win-win for all sides, minister of commerce and industry and railways Piyush Goyal has said.
Speaking at a state consultation workshop for `Make in India’ in New Delhi on Wednesday, Goyal said India is in talks with the European Union and United Kingdom for FTAs and the dialogue will resume in a few months.
However, he advised representatives of state governments to assuage fears of industries and manufacturers of their region that India will enter into FTAs on its own terms and will take all measures to protect the interests of the country, the industries and ensure job creation.
“India is not in a weak leadership to meet deadlines of regional FTAs, the minister said, even as he stressed that in today’s world India cannot adopt an isolationist position and remain cut off from the rest of the world.
But, he said, India will engage with the world after taking all necessary and adequate safeguards for its domestic industry - both in the manufacturing and the service sectors.
The commerce minister informed that Invest the centre will set up a dedicated desk for the states of the North East Region that will look into investment targeting, promotion of investments, facilitation of investments and development of websites for the NE states. He also informed that free legal help is being provided to the MSME industries by Directorate General of Trade Remedies in the commerce ministry and urged the MSMEs to avail of the facility.
In order to help attract investments, the minister said that regulatory stability is very essential so that investments are safe and secure. He also urged states to look at their labour laws in order to create a conducive environment for investments in manufacturing. He welcomed suggestions from states and industry on ways to take the `Make in India’ programme more robust and chart out a road map for the next five years with a focus on ease of doing business that will attract more investments, create more jobs in the MSME sector.
Commerce and industry ministers from 27 states and union ministers of state for commerce and industry Hardeep Singh Puri and SomParkash besides secretary DPIIT attended the meeting.
