India is looking for FTAs with like-minded nations: Minister Goyal

The minister called for enhancing India’s economic ties with the nations of the Southern African Customs Union which consists of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho, while addressing the ‘CII: Partnership Summit -Ministerial Meeting’ virtually from New Delhi.

He added that India is also reviewing existing FTAs with ASEAN, Japan and Korea to strengthen them and forging enhanced trade alliances with countries like UAE, EU, UK, Israel, Australia, Canada, Russia, Oman and the GCC.

Pointing out that India’s voice was visible in the G20 declaration this year, which successfully amplified the voice of the developing countries of the world, the minister said that the world is acknowledging India’s leadership.

Goyal further said that Indian economy has recovered sharply and added that the rising economic indicators point towards ‘an India shaping up for a growth decade’. India had seen a GDP growth of 8.4 per cent in Q2, high exports, high FDI and large amounts of investments being done by Indian companies in other nations. He urged the ministers to invite Indian companies to invest in their economies and help create jobs.

The minister outlined 6 areas on which India is focussing to build a sustainable, inclusive and resilient ecosystem for future partnerships: trade agreements, investments, India’s strengths as a supply chain alternative, ease of doing business, innovation and sustainability.

Underscoring India’s initiatives in investment promotion, Goyal said that the government has been inviting businesses of other countries to seize investment opportunity as ‘India is the place to be’ with its accessibility, choice, openness and opportunities.

India’s diverse business landscape, skilled workforce, relatively low labour cost and initiatives to boost infrastructure such as National Infrastructure Pipeline, GatiShakti, National Monetisation Plan would certainly give a fillip to investments and yield good returns, said Goyal.

Emphasising upon India’s initiatives in the direction of sustainable development, Goyal said that India will reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy, one of the world’s most ambitious renewable energy programmes. It may be noted that India has pledged to achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2070.

He called upon ministers from various nations to take forth the agenda of strengthening partnerships between India and the world and re-stabilise and revitalise economies in the post COVID-19 world.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)