Year End Review 2022
for Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry
·
India’s Merchandise Registers a Positive
Growth of 12.6% from April-October, 2021-22 to April-October, 2022-23
·
India’s Services Export Registers a
Positive Growth of 31.43% from April-October, 2021-22 to April-October, 2022-23
·
Centre takes Several Proactive Policy
Amendments to Facilitate Rupee Trade to Fast-Track Internationalisation of
Indian Rupee
·
India-UAE CEPA which came into force
on 1 May 2022 to help increase Bilateral Trade from the current USD 60 bn to
USD 100 bn in the next 5 years
·
Piyush Goyal attends the first
Ministerial meeting of the Economy & Investment Committee under the
India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC)
·
India and Gulf Cooperating Council
(GCC) announce the intent to pursue negotiations on the India-GCC FTA
·
India- Canada CEPA negotiation
re-launched on the side-lines of 5th India-Canada MDTI (Ministerial Dialogue on
Trade and Investment) with the possibility of EPTA (Early Progress Trade
Agreement)
·
India actively engaged in bilateral
FTA negotiations including in Trade in Services with the UK, Canada, the EU and
Israel
Ø Export Performance
Ø Districts as Export Hubs
Ø Rupee Trade
Ø New Foreign Trade Policy
Ø Stake Holder Consultations and Board of
Trade meeting
Ø SCOMET – India’s Export Control
Framework
Ø NIRYAT Portal
Ø Developments in Plantation Sector
Ø
Tea
Board
Ø
Coffee
Board
Ø
Spices
Board
Ø
Rubber
Board
Ø Developments in Marine Sector
Ø India-UAE Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
Ø Ministerial Committee meeting of the
Economic & Investment Pillar held under the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic
Partnership Council
Ø Visit of H.E. Dr. Nayef Falah M.
Al-Hajraf, Secretary General, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
Ø The India-USA TPF Engagement
Ø 5th India-Canada MDTI (Ministerial
Dialogue on Trade and Investment)
Ø Re-launch of India-Canada CEPA
Negotiations with a proposal to do first Early Harvest Package (or Early
Progress Trade Agreement / EPTA)
Ø Engagement with Indo-Pacific Economic
Framework (IPEF)
Ø Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the
WTO (12th -17th June 2022) (MC12)
Ø Informal WTO Ministerial Gathering
January 2022
Ø Enhancing Services Trade through Free
Trade Agreements
Ø Pursuing Services interests in
multilateral trade at the WTO
1. Export Performance
·
India’s
merchandise export stood at USD 263.3 billion during April-October, 2022-23 as
compared to USD 234.0 billion during the period April-October, 2021-22,
registering a positive growth of 12.6%.
·
India’s
Services export stood at USD 181.39 billion during April-October, 2022-23 as
compared to USD 138.01 billion during the period April-October, 2021-22,
registering a positive growth of 31.43%.
·
India’s overall
export (Merchandise plus Services) increased to US$ 444.74 billion during
April-October, 2022-23 as compared to USD 371.98 billion during the period
April-October, 2021-22, registering positive growth of 19.56%.
2. Districts as Export Hubs
·
Department
of Commerce through Directorate General of Foreign Trade is working with the
States and the districts to channelize the potential and diverse identity in
each district of our country to make them export hubs. The Districts as Export
Hubs is aimed at targeting export promotion, manufacturing and employment
generation at the grass roots level, making the States and Districts meaningful
stakeholders and active participants in making India an export powerhouse
thereby contributing to the AtmaNirbhar mission and achieving the vision of
Make in India for the world and being Vocal for Local, by significantly
increasing the manufacturing and exports from urban areas while focusing on
generating interest and economic activity in the rural hinterland and small
towns in the country to push new businesses to export. A growing focus on
exports by focusing on districts as potential export hubs is also likely to
integrate India more closely with global value chain and propel India to be a
significant exporter by leveraging the diversity and competitiveness in
agriculture, marine, textile, pharmaceutical, chemicals and a whole lot of
engineering products.
·
Towards
this goal, Products/services (including GI products, agricultural clusters, toy
clusters etc.) with export potential in all the districts of the country have
been identified and institutional mechanism in the form of State Export
Promotion Committees (SEPC) at State/UT level and District Export Promotion
Committees (DEPCs) at the district level has been created in all districts of
the country to provide support for export promotion and address the bottlenecks
for export growth in the Districts. The primary function of the DEPC is to
prepare and implement District specific Export Action Plans (DEAPs) in
collaboration with all the relevant stakeholders from the Center, State and the
District.
·
District
specific export action plans identifying specific actions required to support
local exporters / manufacturers in producing exportable products in adequate
quantity and with the requisite quality, and reaching potential buyers outside
India have been finalised by DEPCs and jurisdictional DGFT RAs in 242 districts
and currently under consultation stage in 338 districts. The export performance
of each district in terms of export data is now being captured to measure and
rank export performance of each district.
3. Rupee Trade
·
The
Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had amended the Foreign Trade
Policy vide Notification No. 33/2015-20 dated 16.09.2022, to allow for
International Trade Settlement in Indian Rupees (INR) i.e., invoicing, payment,
and settlement of exports / imports in Indian Rupees in sync with RBI’s A.P.
(DIR Series) Circular No.10 dated 11th July 2022.
·
Further
changes have been introduced in the Foreign Trade Policy vide DGFT Notification
43/2015-20 dated 09.11.2022 and Public Notice 35/2015-20 dated 09.11.2022 for
grant of exports benefits and fulfilment of Export Obligation for export
realisations in Indian Rupees as per the RBI guidelines. Given the rise in
interest in internationalisation of Indian Rupee, the given Policy amendments
have been undertaken to facilitate and to bring ease in international trade
transactions in Indian Rupees.
4. New Foreign Trade Policy
·
The
government has received requests from Export Promotion Councils and leading
exporters that we should continue with current Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20),
which had been extended from time to time.
·
In
recent days, exporters and industry bodies have strongly urged the government
that in view of the prevailing, volatile global economic and geo-political
situation, it would be advisable to extend the current policy for some time,
and undertake more consultations before coming out with the new policy.
·
The
government has always involved all stakeholders in formulating policy. In view
of this, it has been decided to extend the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20, valid
till Sept 30, 2022 for a further period of six months, w.e.f. October 1st,
2022.
5. Stake Holder Consultations and Board of
Trade meeting
·
Department
of Commerce has regularly held stakeholder consultations with various Industry
Associations, Export Promotion Councils.
As part of consultation, a Board of Trade meeting was held on 13.9.2022. The Board of Trade meeting focused on export
target setting, the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), and the strategies and
measures to be taken in order to take forward domestic manufacturing and
exports. Board of Trade (BOT) has been constituted by merging Council for Trade
Development and Promotion with Board of Trade vide notification No. 11/2015-20
dt 17th July 2019. The Board of Trade, inter alia, advises the Government on
policy measures connected with the Foreign Trade Policy in order to achieve the
objectives of boosting India’s trade. It provides a platform to state
governments and UTs for articulating state-oriented perspectives on Trade
Policy. It also acts as a platform to Government of India for appraising State
Governments and UTs about international developments affecting India’s trade.
It is an important mechanism for deliberations on trade related issues with
industry bodies, associations, export promotion councils, and state and UT
governments. There were 29 new non-official members who were also invited for the
first time in this Board of Trade meeting.
·
During
the Board of Trade meeting, presentations were made on a variety of subjects
such as India’s Import/ Export Performance, restructuring of the Department of
Commerce, FTAs and way forward, States export performance, District as Export
Hubs, new proposed Foreign Trade Policy, trade remedial, trade facilitation
measures undertaken by customs, Government e-Marketplace etc.
·
Ministers
from states made interventions in the meeting, giving their state-specific suggestions,
and also expressed their support to the central government initiatives in
promoting the external trade.
·
The
meeting was attended by Various State Ministers and other senior officials of
key line ministries and States, all major trade and industry bodies, Export
Promotion Councils and industry associations.
6. SCOMET – India’s Export Control
Framework
·
In
consonance with the guidelines and control lists of the international
conventions and obligations as well as multilateral export control regimes
related to export of dual use goods and technologies, India has regulated the
exports of dual use items, nuclear related items, including software and
technology. SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and
Technologies) is India’s National Export Control List of dual use items
munitions and nuclear related items, including software and technology
maintained under Foreign Trade Policy and is aligned to the control lists of
the all the multilateral export control regimes and conventions including the
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia
Group. India’s membership of different export control regimes demonstrated
India’s commitment to the global non-proliferation objectives and has enabled
Indian companies access to the controlled new age technology and goods in the
sectors such as Telecom, Aerospace, Defence sectors etc.
·
The
SCOMET List has been notified by DGFT under Appendix 3 to Schedule 2 of ITC
(HS) Classification of Export and Import Items. The provisions to control the
dual use items have been incorporated in Chapter IVA of Foreign Trade
(Development & Regulation) (FTDR) Act, 1992, as amended in 2010.x
·
The
SCOMET List is divided into nine categories of items from Category 0 to
Category 8. The export of SCOMET items
is regulated and can only be allowed against a SCOMET license issued by DGFT or
other agency designated for the purpose. In the recent past, steps have been
taken by DGFT to ease the process of licensing by making the application
process completely online, facilitating exporters by liberalising the SCOMET
policy in case of certain goods and technologies through bulk licensing and
general authorisation provisions such as General Authorisation for export of
chemicals(GAEC), General Authorisation for export after repair in India(GAER),
General Authorisation for Intra Company Transfer(GAICT), Repeat order Authorization
etc. The SCOMET list was also updated as per the recent changes incorporated
under various export control regimes in November, 2022. Certain policy areas
such as liberalising policy for export of SCOMET regulated UAVs/Drones,
expanding list of chemicals under GAEC, revising stock and sale policy etc are
being looked into for changes in the near future.
7. NIRYAT Portal
·
In
order to supplement the offline monitoring of export performance, a real time
online monitoring system for the designated export target (for 200
Countries/territories by 31 commodity groups), via a digitized data-driven
framework for facilitating timely policy making/ interventions in international
trade, the DoC has developed a portal- NIRYAT (National Import-Export Record
for Yearly Analysis of Trade), which was launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister on
23rd June, 2022. The portal also displays State/UT wise export performance with
respect to 31 commodity groups.
·
The
NIRYAT portal is available at the domain name: https://niryat.gov.in. It is
accessible to Government Stakeholders (including Embassies/HCs/Missions) and
Export Promotion Councils (EPCs)/Commodity Boards/Authorities, etc through
individual login and password, for regular monitoring of the export performance
of their respective jurisdictions and to take necessary action, wherever
required. Recently, public portal was created and is now accessible to all.
8. Developments in Plantation Sector
Tea Board
·
In
order to bring transparency, improve efficiency and effectiveness, ease of
doing business, Tea Board has on boarded the various components and
sub-components of the Tea Development and Promotion Scheme at “Service Plus”
platform for the use of stakeholders to bring a holistic development and reach
out.
·
The
number of compliances under various Control Orders has been significantly
reduced for the benefit of the stakeholders and the services were made online.
Coffee Board
·
Coffee
Board has implemented online issuance with digital signature of export
documents viz., RCMC, Export Permit and ICO Certificate of Origin without any
physical interface with the exporters and also integrated with ICEGATE
e-Sanchit portal.
·
Coffee
Board has established a State of the-art Laboratory Infrastructure for Coffee
Quality & Export Certification exclusively for testing Coffee and Coffee
products to meet the international quality standards for exports and to ensure
that the Coffees imported meet the country’s quality standards. The laboratory
is expected to help Indian Coffees to explore premium markets.
Spices Board
·
Spices
Board has launched a novel digital platform titled ‘SpiceXchangeIndia”
(www.spiceexchangeindia.com) for the use of Indian spice exporters to easily
connect with the importers across the globe and to facilitate export of spices
from the country. This portal is equipped with features like integrated
database of global spice traders in a searchable format, artificial intelligence
based short listing, 24x7 virtual office space for Indian spice brands, spice
market information, access to global spice trade data, etc. In addition, the
Board will use this digital platform to organise various export promotion
activities online including International Buyer-Seller Meets. This platform has
got good potential to open up new business opportunities for the benefit of
Indian spice entrepreneurs.
·
A
Quality Testing Laboratory was inaugurated in the Spices Board Park at Jodhpur
on 20th April, 2022 to facilitate the needs of the exporters and other
stakeholders in the region.
·
Spices Board has successfully on boarded into
e-RCMC portal developed by DGFT as single window system for Export Promotion
Councils and Commodity Boards with effect from 19.5.2022. Board has issued 96
CRES certificates through this portal during May-2022.
·
Spices
Board, under its initiative Flavourit Spices Trading Limited(FSTL) signed a
Terms of Understanding (ToU) on 9th June-2022 with Flipkart, India’s home-grown
e-commerce marketplace, to enhance market access and help promote farmers and
grassroots organizations working in the spices sector.
Rubber Board
·
The
Rubber Board has launched ‘mRube’, an electronic market platform for Natural
Rubber. The new electronic trading platform complements the existing trade
system of NR with more market visibility and to strengthen the efficacy of
domestic supply chain of NR.
·
A
project named NEMITRA for supporting development of new rubber plantations in
200,000 ha in North East in 5 years with a contribution of Rs 1,000 Crore from
major tyre companies, represented by Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association
(ATMA), was agreed and the project started in 2021. Under this project, rubber
planting completed in 3861 ha during 2021. During 2022, planting is underway
and completed in 22,868 ha till 20.10.2022. Board developed a common Mobile App
“RUBEXT” to capture information of beneficiaries with geo tagged photographs
for monitoring progress of the NEMITRA project.
·
Second
Edition of the Rubber Board Virtual Trade Fair was launched during April, 2022
with 205 Exhibitors covering different rubber product categories. Rubber Board
Virtual Trade Fair is considered as a cost-effective digital platform for
promoting Indian rubber and rubber products in the domestic and international
market.
·
Rubber
Board commissioned Advanced Analysis Laboratory for Rubber products at Rubber
Research Institute of India. The new facility will enable the Exporters to
conduct independent third-party testing of rubber products for REACH compliance
and for Manufacturers in the MSME sector to design REACH compliant product
formulations. REACH is the European Union Regulations which deals with
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances.
The objectives of REACH regulation are to protect human health and environment
through better and earlier identification of the residual chemical substances
in industrial products.
·
Advanced
Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory: The laboratory set up by Rubber Board at
Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) will be helpful in developing
techniques for early detection of pathogens and for development of efficient
management practices to control diseases. Timely control of diseases in rubber
is very important in preventing crop loss and increasing the income of rubber
growers.
9. Developments in Marine Sector
·
Thailand
lifted ban on L. vannamei shrimp: As a result of the continuous efforts taken
by DoC, the Government of Thailand has lifted the ban on import of frozen
vannamei shrimp from India on 15/06/2022, subsequent to the Virtual audit of
India's shrimp disease control system.
·
MPEDA
released financial assistance of Rs. 4.82 Cr to four beneficiaries during the
period Apr-Oct 2022 under various schemes of MPEDA for value addition and
infrastructure development.
10. India-UAE Comprehensive Economic
Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
·
The
India-UAE CEPA was signed on 18th February 2022 by the Minister of
Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and Minister of Economy of UAE, H.E.
Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri in the virtual presence of the Hon’ble Prime Minister
Shri Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed
Al Nahyan during a Virtual Summit. The Agreement was ratified in March 2022 and
came into force from 1st May 2022. The Agreement will provide significant
benefits to businesses from both sides including enhanced market access and reduced
tariffs. It is expected that the CEPA will lead to increase in bilateral trade
from the current USD 60 bn to USD 100 bn in the next 5 years.
·
The
India-UAE CEPA is the first deep and full free trade Agreement to be signed by
India with any country in the past decade. The Agreement is a comprehensive
agreement, which will cover Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services,
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures,
Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Customs Procedures,
Pharmaceutical products, Government Procurement, IPR, Investment, Digital Trade
and Cooperation in other Areas.
·
The
CEPA between India and the UAE covers almost all the tariff lines dealt in by
India (11,908 tariff lines) and the UAE (7581 tariff lines) respectively. India
will benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE on over 97 %
of its tariff lines which account for 99% of Indian exports to the UAE in value
terms, especially for all labour-intensive sectors such as Gems and Jewellery,
Textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural
and wood products, engineering products, medical devices, and Automobiles.
India will also be offering preferential access to the UAE on over 90% of its
tariff lines, including lines of export interest to the UAE.
·
As
regards trade in services, India has offered market access to the UAE in around
100 sub-sectors, while Indian service providers will have access to around 111
sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors such as ‘business services’,
‘communication services’, ‘construction and related engineering services’,
‘distribution services’, ‘educational services’, ‘environmental services’,
‘financial services’, ‘health related and social services’, ‘tourism and travel
related services’, ‘recreational cultural and sporting services’ and ‘transport
services’.
·
Both
sides have also agreed to a separate Annex on Pharmaceuticals to facilitate
access of Indian pharmaceuticals products, especially automatic registration
and marketing authorization in 90 days for products meeting specified criteria.
11. Ministerial Committee meeting of the
Economic & Investment Pillar held under the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic
Partnership Council
·
An
Indian delegation led by HCIM visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 18th – 19th
September 2022, to participate in the first Ministerial meeting of the Economy
& Investment Committee under the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership
Council (SPC). During the Ministerial meeting, more than 40 areas of bilateral
cooperation identified by the constituent Joint Working Groups were discussed
and ways of implementing priority projects to strengthen trade and investment
linkages were discussed. Other high-level bilateral engagements included
bilateral meetings with the Saudi Commerce and Energy Ministers, President of
the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu.
12. Visit of H.E. Dr. Nayef Falah M.
Al-Hajraf, Secretary General, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
·
H.E
Dr. Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf, Secretary General, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
visited New Delhi on 24th November 2022 and held a bilateral meeting with Shri
Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food, and
Public Distribution and Textiles, Government of India. The bilateral
engagements witnessed significant progress on all matters of mutual interest
across the entire gamut of bilateral economic and commercial relations between
India and the GCC nations. Both sides announced the intent to pursue
negotiations on the India-GCC FTA and agreed to expedite conclusion of the
requisite legal and technical requirements for formal resumption of the FTA
negotiations.
13. The India-USA TPF Engagement
·
Trade
Policy Forum (TPF) is key pillar of bilateral engagements in resolving the
outstanding trade issues from time to time. It is held annually, co-chaired by
the HCIM and USTR. Discussions are organized around Working Groups (WGs) on
Agriculture, non-Agricultural Goods, Services & Investment and Intellectual
Property.
·
After
the re-launch of TPF in November, 2021 in New Delhi after four years gap TPF
Working Groups on agriculture, non-agriculture goods, services, investment and
Intellectual property were re-activated. Most WGs met virtually and separate
meetings were held on issues such as WTO disputes etc. In this context, a
delegation from the office of USTR visited India in the month of August and
October 2022 for informal discussion on the TPF issues.
·
13th
Ministerial TPF meeting is expected in early 2023 in the US and both sides are
working on achieving substantial agenda for the same.
14. 5th India-Canada MDTI (Ministerial
Dialogue on Trade and Investment)
·
The
5th India-Canada MDTI meeting was held in New Delhi in the month of
March, 2022. Ms. Mary Ng, Canadian Trade Minister and HCIM re-launched the
India and CEPA negotiation.
·
After
the 5th MDTI meeting the Canadian side has informed that Canada has granted
market access for Indian fresh banana and fresh baby corn for exports to Canada
which was agreed during the meeting. Indian side also allowed the import of
pulses without penalty in case of fumigation on arrival by Methyl Bromide (MBr)
until finalization of a systems approach for Canadian pulses.
15. Re-launch of India-Canada CEPA
Negotiations with a proposal to do first Early Harvest Package (or Early
Progress Trade Agreement / EPTA)
·
During
the visit of Canadian Trade Minister Ms Mary Ng, both sides formally re-launched
the CEPA negotiations with the possibility of EPTA (Early Progress Trade
Agreement or interim agreement). EPTA can be a stepping stone to CEPA. It
should aim at providing competitive tariff elimination/reduction on a range of
goods and open new services markets for suppliers in various sectors, for both
sides. It was agreed that EPTA shall include high level commitments in goods,
services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical
barrier to trade and dispute settlement and any other area agreed.
·
Five
Rounds have been conducted till November end with 3rd and 4th round held in
person in Canada and New Delhi respectively.
·
The
following Chapters/ policy areas are currently under negotiations.
i. Trade in Goods/National Treatment and
Market Access (NTMA)
ii. Customs Procedures and Trade
Facilitation
iii. Rules of Origin & Origin Procedures
iv. Trade Remedies
v. Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
(SPS)
vi. Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
vii. Trade in Services (TIS) which includes
(a) Telecommunication Services, (b) Movement of Natural Persons/Temporary Entry
of Business Persons, (c) Professional Services, and (d) Financial Services
viii. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
(SMEs)
ix. Trade and Gender
x. Institutional Matters (Core Provisions
and Transparency)
xi. Dispute Settlement
xii. Environment
xiii. Labour
xiv. Investment
16. Engagement with Indo-Pacific Economic
Framework (IPEF)
·
IPEF
was launched jointly by USA and other partner countries of the Indo Pacific
region on May 23, 2022 at Tokyo. India joined the IPEF. The IPEF seeks to
strengthen economic engagement among partner countries with the goal of
advancing growth, peace and prosperity in the region. The framework is
inclusive and allows flexibility to partner countries to associate with pillars
based on their respective priorities.
·
The
IPEF partner countries include Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia,
Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, Vietnam and USA (14 countries as of now).
·
India
joined 3 pillars - Supply Chains (Pillar 2), Clean Economy (Pillar 3) and Fair
Economy (Pillar 4).
·
CIM
participated in the IPEF Ministerial meeting during 8th-9th September in LA,
USA during which Ministerial Joint Statements were issued for each pillar
outlining the scope of further negotiations in each pillar.
·
Expected
outcomes/ benefits could be: cooperation in supply
chain resilience; investment in critical supply chains, climate finance
mobilization, economic cooperation, promoting rule-based trading system,
technical assistance, capacity building etc.
17. Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the
WTO (12th -17th June 2022) (MC12)
·
The
Twelfth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (“MC-12”) was
held in Geneva, Switzerland during 12th-17th June, 2022 and concluded with
outcomes in the form of Declarations, Decisions and Agreements. India
participated in the Conference with a delegation led by Hon'ble CIM. MC-12
proved to be a successful Ministerial Conference as it resulted in outcomes in
different areas after seven years. India participated constructively in the
negotiations in all areas which were part of agenda i.e. agriculture,
fisheries, WTO response to pandemic, TRIPS Waiver, Moratorium on E-Commerce and
WTO reform. The outcome package comprised of Decisions including on fisheries
subsidies, WTO response to the pandemic, food insecurity, e-commerce. These
outcomes have strengthened the multilateral trading system of the WTO as
members came together in pursuit of mutually beneficial outcomes.
·
During
the year 2022, in the run up to MC 12, a number of submissions were made at the
WTO for advancing negotiations across different areas. India, along with the
G-33, has been engaging for achieving a permanent solution to the Public
Stockholding for Food Security purposes (PSH). More than 80 countries from
three large groups - Africa Group, Africa Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
(ACP) and G33, co-sponsored a joint harmonized text on PSH, in May 2022.
·
India
also led the initiative to present a Developing countries reform paper
“Strengthening the WTO to promote development and inclusivity” in August 2019,
which was further revised in February 2022 to keep the reform discussion alive
in the run-up to MC12 and again revised in July 2022.
·
In
order to fulfil its transparency and notification obligation commitments, India
submitted relevant notifications to the WTO in its various Committees including
the Committee on Agriculture.
18. Informal WTO Ministerial Gathering
January 2022
·
An
informal WTO ministerial gathering was organised by Switzerland on 21st
January, 2022 in the virtual format. The Indian delegation was led by Hon’ble
CIM. The meeting was chaired by the President of the Swiss Confederation and
Federal Councillor Mr. Guy Parmelin and was attended by 29 Ministers/ Vice
-Ministers and high officials representing a broad spectrum of WTO membership.
·
The
Ministers were invited to share their assessment of the current state of the
negotiations at the WTO and how Member countries could reach pragmatic and
tangible outcomes with regard to (i) areas where decisions with immediate
effects and/or agreements should be finalized including the WTO response both
to the current pandemic and future ones to ensure that multilateral trade
rules, including the intellectual property system, support international
efforts to combat health crises and an agreement on harmful fisheries
subsidies, in line with SDG 14.6; and (ii) Mapping out future WTO work and
objectives in respect of multilateral agriculture negotiations under Article 20
of the Agreement on Agriculture and WTO reform including reform of the WTO’s
negotiating function, dispute settlement function and monitoring and
deliberative function.
·
Hon'ble
CIM called for patent waiver for vaccines, drugs and devices and highlighted
that developed world should not use the pandemic as a 'veil to secure market
access' in developing countries, as a response to the pandemic. He emphasized
that on fisheries negotiations it was essential that big subsidisers take
greater responsibility to reduce their subsidies as the mistakes made during
the Uruguay Round should not be repeated. HCIM stated that in agriculture
negotiations any attempt to take them forward under Article 20 of the Agreement
on Agriculture should build on the progress achieved on various issues under
the Doha Round. He mentioned that India was committed to WTO reforms to make
the organisation more contemporary, without compromising on the founding
principles, preserving its member-driven character and consensus-based decision
making, while reaffirming the principle of special and differential treatment.
He also cautioned that developing countries should not be asked to vacate their
trade policy space.
19. Enhancing Services Trade through Free
Trade Agreements
·
During
2022, India signed Free Trade Agreements (FTA) including Trade in Services with
the UAE on 18th February, 2022, and with Australia on 2nd
April, 2022. While the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
(CEPA) entered into force on 1st May, 2022, the India-Australia
Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) is yet to enter into force.
Important gains for India in the India UAE agreement are as follows:-
o Commercially meaningful market access
commitments by UAE in all important sub sectors (111 out of total 160
sub-sectors)
o Potential for UAE to be leveraged as a
hub for exports to other countries especially in Gulf and African region.
Substantial export potential in India’s key areas of interest :
§
Full
commitments in Computer Related Services will benefit the Indian IT/ITES
sector.
§
Commitments
in Services like Audio visual services, Education services, Health Services,
Tourism & Travel related services will amplify India’s soft power.
§
Commitments
in professional services ( Nursing, engineering, accountancy etc.) and Other
Business Services will help diversify exports.
o Obligations on mutual recognition of
professional and skilled services in the Agreement will facilitate
professionals and skilled workers to deliver services.
o Market access offered for Business
Visitors, Intra Corporate Transferees, and Contractual Services Suppliers in a
range of services sectors.
·
Similarly,
enhancement of trade opportunities for services exports from India to Australia
may get a boost through following set of commitments in India Australia ECTA:-
·
Currently,
India is actively engaged in bilateral FTA negotiations including in Trade in
Services with the UK, Canada, the EU and Israel. Due
to the intangible nature of Services, barriers to Services trade present
themselves largely in the form of restrictive and uncertain market access,
domestic regulations and terms of treatment. The focus in the Free Trade
Agreements (FTAs) is to secure certainty in market access and national
treatment across maximum services sectors and seek regulatory environment which
is transparent, objective and least burdensome.
20. Pursuing Services interests in
multilateral trade at the WTO
·
For
the twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC) of WTO (June, 2022), India along with
South Africa and Indonesia had made a submission supporting re-invigoration of
work under the Work Programme on E-Commerce, including the development related
issues under it. India stressed that increasing participation of developing
countries in global e-commerce continues to be a challenge and that there has
been no comprehensive assessment of the developmental aspects of global
e-commerce under the WPEC. Accordingly, at MC12, the Membership agreed to
reinvigorate the work under the WPEC, based on the existing mandate and
particularly in line with its development dimension.
·
Since
MC11, India has been making several submissions at the WTO demonstrating that a
reconsideration of the e-commerce moratorium is important for developing
countries to preserve policy space for their digital advancement, to regulate
imports and for generating revenue through Customs duties. At MC12, while the
moratorium was temporarily extended up to MC13 (or latest to 31st
March, 2024), the Membership agreed to intensify discussions on the moratorium,
including on its scope, definition, and impact.
·
A
Ministerial Declaration on the WTO response to the current and future pandemics
was adopted at MC12. In these negotiations, India consistently argued for
including elements which reflect the critical role of services. Notable
elements related to services contained in the Ministerial Declaration include
acknowledging the importance of facilitating trade in services including health
services and ICT services, stressing on the importance of services trade across
sectors and modes of supply to support economic recovery of members,
acknowledging the relevance of further cooperation including on recognition of
vaccination certificates and interoperability and mutual recognition of digital
health applications, noting the importance of the WTO working along with other
international organizations on an international pandemic response including
activities such as expeditious matching of supply to demand and mutual
recognition norms related to services, and affirming the need to build
effective solutions for future pandemics. In this regard, the membership
decided that the relevant bodies including the Council for Trade in Services or
its relevant subsidiary bodies will initiate work to analyze lessons that have
been learned and challenges experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.