Govt to hire specialists to drive its trade deals
BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: The government is exploring ways to involve sector specialists from the public and private sectors during the negotiations on key bilateral free trade agreements (FTAS) to ensure best possible outcomes for India, said two senior government officials.
The Centre has set an exports target of over $2 trillion by 2027, and will try to negotiate terms that would serve India’s interests by onboarding experts from services, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, trade remedies, and digital trade, among others, one of the two officials said, seeking anonymity. “The idea is to create a team of specialists when we go for trade agreement talks. Whichever country, especially if we negotiate with developed nations, they have specialists on the negotiation table. Experts in services, goods, or agriculture attend the talks. There is a realization that it shouldn’t be the case that officers negotiating a deal for India have no subject knowledge. It could be a government official or a private sector expert.” Experts from the private sector may also be roped in to drive export promotion activities by the department of commerce in key markets, he said.
India has signed an FTA with the United Trade Emirates (UAE) and concluded an interim trade deal with Australia. It is also in talks with the UK, European Union, Canada, and Israel for bilateral trade deals.
The discussions are on internally, and will need to get approval from the department of personnel and training (DOPT) before the Prime Ministers’
Office (PMO) sanctions it, said a second official, also requesting anonymity.
India will start talks with Australia to transform the minitrade deal into a full-fledged comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) within two months, and hopes to conclude early harvest deals with Canada and the UK this year.
The proposal is to strengthen the negotiation ecosystem with the right expertise and robust end-to-end processes, with clearly defined focus areas. “The goal is to achieve an optimal mix of talent with specialists and generalists sourced from the private and government sectors,” he added. Queries sent to the spokesperson of the ministry of commerce and industry on Thursday remained unanswered till press time.
The proposal is part of the government’s broader strategy to revamp the department of commerce and create a stronger active role for missions in trade promotion for market intelligence, leads generation, and localized research. The department is also exploring setting up separate specialized teams for bilateral negotiations and World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. “Most developed countries involve private players in FTA negotiations, mostly lawyers and economists. India has always been inclined towards using economists from educational institutions but including private participants will be a sensible decision,” Pradeep S. Mehta, secretary-general, CUTS International, said. It will be interesting to see whether they will be part of the frontal negotiating team or work at the backend, he added.