13/11/2019 - Governance | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 5 years

KEY POINTS

· It, unarguably, provides an opportunity for political and largely bureaucratic neutral nations such as India to bolster its position as a favoured nation for free trade.

· Citing the example of Vietnam, which has gained orders from trade diversion on tariffed goods equal to 7.9% of GDP through the first quarter of 2019. Their trade diplomacy has played a critical role in facilitating the country’s rise to an Asian ‘trade celebrity nation’.

· Most developed nations are actively using their international embassies as a platform for promoting and building new trade connections.

· They have designated trade attaches at various embassy locations across the globe to help build trade-related capacity. However, India’s limited global presence restricts us from broadening our trade profile.

· It is imperative for India to expand its network of foreign missions to more countries and have a team of trade attaches who manage trade development agenda with regard to trade policies and negotiations, as well as productive capacities essential to compete on a global platform.

To further empower and entrust Indian foreign missions abroad, it would be ideal to develop an in-house Indian Trade Facilitation Office (ITFO) which should focus on the below-mentioned areas.

A designated officer should be supported by a team of trade specialists responsible for harnessing trade potential.
ITFO would also be India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to key international trade promotion bodies such as WTO.
ITFO to be also responsible for protecting the interest of existing Indian businesses abroad and extend necessary professional support.
It can also play an important role in facilitating government’s international spending for promoting bilateral trade. ITFO may monitor such investments and ensure proper grounding of all such efforts.
ITFO can work on building a plethora of ground level knowledge base, i.e., country-specific trade opportunities and extend such information to Indian companies.

A trade specific venture through our foreign missions will give us an extra edge in global trading, and bridge any gaps that come in the way of boosting India’s share in international trade.