The summit is being attended by more than 30 heads of state and top officials from the European Union and invited guest countries and 14 heads of international organisations.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently backed the agitating farmers in India, saying his country will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protests. He had expressed concern over the situation.
'Every type of deal that US government officials were privately indicating 'hope' to have included a few months back made it in.'
'We had tremendous faith in honorable Modiji in his second term as he was well-settled. Sadly that has been belied.'
The WTO's quarterly outlook indicator, comprising seven trade parameters, stood at 96.3, the lowest since March 2010 and down from 98.6 in November. Exports from India would be hit if there is a slowdown in world trade.
Every twist and turn in KMC's civil service career is attributed to serendipity, an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. He plays down his capabilities, which took him to the top of the civil service as the Cabinet Secretary or his misfortune in losing a daughter in her prime and suggests that his career was indeed serendipitous, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced the adoption of the New Delhi Leaders Declaration, a significant victory for India's G20 presidency that came amid increasing tensions and divergent views over the Ukraine conflict.
Due to the huge pile-up of visa applications, the US consular officers in the neighbouring country are now adjudicating Indian visa applications where interview requirements have been waived.
Dulat, however, pointedly said engagement with Pakistan has always been "influenced by domestic politics".
'Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal once told me that if onion prices rise we will face the flak for it across India.' 'What can farmers expect from a government which talks like a trader and only believes in (electoral) profit and loss?'
The meet will see Goyal batting for structural reforms at the WTO, where India has repeatedly called for reforms, especially in the dispute resolution mechanism that has effectively been held hostage by the US.
Communications between the USTR and the world's most powerful pharmaceutical and trade lobbying groups reveal that many raised concerns about India's push to exempt Covid vaccines from intellectual property.
India's exports may have touched an all-time high of $422 billion in 2021-22 but recession in key western markets and geo-political crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war are expected to impact the growth of the country's outbound shipments in 2023. All the global trade promoting factors like political stability, movement of goods, adequate availability of containers and shipping lines, demand, stable currency and smooth banking systems are in disarray. Adding to the woes, COVID cases have again started rising in countries like China, Japan, South Korea and the US.
Modi hits out at trade protectionism and calls for a rule-based, transparent, anti-discriminatory, open and all inclusive WTO-centred multilateral trading system focused so that the interests of every country specially the developing ones can be taken care of.
The recently promulgated National Food Security Ordinance might breach the global trading rules on agriculture under the World Trade Organization if there is diversion of the subsidised foodgrain for export.
Negotiations for a trade deal between India and the UK have run into fresh controversy, after the proposals under a leaked chapter of the deal on intellectual property (IP) are believed to put access to affordable, lifesaving generic medicines from India at risk. According to the draft IP chapter put out by an international trade portal bilaterals.org, the UK is seeking continuous extension of patent period and rights through small tweaks in the drug, known as evergreening. This may prevent patents from expiring, impacting cheaper drug availability and its production by Indian generic drug manufacturers.
India's exports recorded a flat growth of 0.59 per cent to $31.99 billion in November, even as trade deficit widened to $23.89 billion during the month, according to the data released by the government on Thursday. Exports stood at $31.8 billion in November last year. Imports rose by 5.37 per cent to $55.88 billion in November as compared to $53.03 billion in the corresponding month a year ago, the data showed. During April-November 2022, exports rose by 11 per cent to $295.26 billion as against $265.77 billion in the same month last year.
The government on Tuesday announced revoking of anti-dumping duties on certain steel products imported from countries including China, a move aimed at containing high prices of metals and promoting domestic manufacturing.
Besides him, Brajendra Navnit who served in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has been appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Geneva, Switzerland. Topno is a 1996 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Gujarat cadre.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for following a 'one earth, one health' approach to effectively deal with the coronavirus pandemic globally, and sought the support of the G7 grouping to lift patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, during a virtual address at an outreach session of a summit of the bloc.
Six key World Trade Organisation members, including India, on Monday failed to reach an agreement on steps to liberalise trade in agriculture and manufactured goods.
'China feels India will be hard-pressed not to go after China because we are so badly dependent on them -- and that is the reality.'
Companies moving their manufacturing base out of the US during his administration would have to face consequences, he said.
India believes no country would emerge victorious in the Russia-Ukraine war as all will suffer losses and there will be a "more serious" impact on developing and poor countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday after holding talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as both leaders reiterated the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
'The vaccine policy should be such that all people should get the vaccine free.'
The prime minister said that developing countries should get a fair deal at the tough WTO negotiations at Geneva
The US side had pushed for removal of price caps on medical equipment such as coronary stents and a commitment by India to reduce trade imbalance
The huge increase in WTO membership and the rising share of emerging economies in world trade belie the perception that the WTO exclusively serves the rich countries' interests.
World Trade Organisation negotiators on Friday made a last-ditch effort to salvage the deal on easier availability of life- saving medicines to poor countries, which fell through earlier in the day.
While an official in the Commerce Department indicated a trade war was in the offing, till now the government has been in wait-and-watch mode.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the G-20 joint finance and health ministers' meeting in Rome on October 29, which among other things will discuss COVID pandemic prevention and response. "Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman embarks on an official visit to attend #G20 Joint Finance & Health Ministers meeting in #Rome to discuss measures to strengthen #COVID19 #PandemicPrevention, #preparedness & #response. The meeting precedes #G20RomeSummit," the Finance Ministry tweeted. Finance and health ministers will discuss how to keep momentum in response to the pandemic and build on further coordination arrangements between the ministries.
According to Ajai Sahai, director-general and CEO of Federation of Indian Export Organisations, rising cases are a cause for concern as it adds to the uncertainty and may impact exports.
Gloom over ministerial, courtesy US-China spar, conflict between cotton-producing African nations.
The government may roll out a new foreign trade policy (FTP) of a shorter term of two-three years in a bid to keep pace with the fast-evolving scenarios in international trade which have been triggered by recent disruptions, such as the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. An FTP is an elaborate policy guideline and strategy to promote the export of goods and services, with a duration of five years usually. The existing policy came into force on April 1, 2015, and was valid for five years, before multiple extensions.
The government believes that WTO's push for initiating negotiations on substantive obligations related to e-commerce will oblige India to permanently accept the current moratorium on imposing customs duties on products traded electronically.
India's shrimp exporters heaved a sigh of relief last week following the decision of World Trade Organisation's anti-dumping panel to set July 24 as the deadline for the final hearing on the issue.
The simultaneous decline of several trade-related indicators should put policy makers on guard for a sharper slowdown.
