'We don't have to compete with Maharashtra or Gujarat. We have to now start thinking about how we compete with the United States or China.'
India has been the single biggest beneficiary of the decades-old US Generalized System of Preferences programme, allowing the country to export $ 5.7 billion worth of duty-free goods in 2017, according to figures from US Congress.
Duty-free and quota-free access in favour of LDCs is a commitment undertaken by WTO members at the launch of the Doha Round in 2001.
Tata Sons will likely choose Singapore as a "key partner" for its semiconductor plans, a senior minister from the city-state said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran earlier in the day, Singapore's minister for home affairs and law K Shanmugam said semiconductors was a "big discussion" point during the meeting. "If they (Tatas) want to, they can do business with anybody in the world.
The United States on Monday ruled out cutting farm subsidies unilaterally, but said it was open to talks on the subject with a view to restarting the Doha Round of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation.
Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean has expressed optimism in sorting and settling challenging differences.
'We need to raise the costs and consequences for Pakistan. It is long overdue. Our initial surgical strike was effective for about six months. Then, the Balakot strike provided a deterrent for perhaps two to three years. But we cannot operate under the assumption that such limited responses will suffice for decades to come.'
Trade ministers of key WTO member countries, including India would meet on the sidelines of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development meeting in Paris in the last week of May.
Delivering a thinly veiled message to Pakistan from its soil, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said activities across borders characterised by the 'three evils' of terrorism, extremism and separatism are unlikely to encourage trade, energy flows and connectivity.
A feasibility study on the proposed Free Trade Agreement, officially known as the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, has long been finalised but cannot be acted upon in the absence of Russia joining the WTO.
Director General of the World Trade Organisation had stated early this month that the current food crisis can be solved through a successful outcome of the Doha Round of negotiations for a multi-lateral trade deal among 151 countries. Biswajit Dhar, head of the Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, felt that if an agreement is reached it would provide certainty in terms of policy regime for the farmers in developing countries.
Chinese ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, on Wednesday expressed hope that the recently completed Indo-China border disengagement in Eastern Ladakh would smoothen relations and pave the way for a better understanding between the two neighbours in the days ahead.
From Covid to climate change, Shankar Acharya's look at some of the trends and events that might shape 2022.
While India does not figure in the top 10 export destinations for Pakistani goods, it serves as a crucial channel for select goods such as leather hides and cheaper variants of fertilisers that are generally procured by importers at short notice.
The United States is committed to move the multilateral trade talks forward this year but India, China and Brazil need to contribute to a positive outcome of the World Trade Organisation negotiations, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab has said.
Unable to penetrate the fast-growing Indian wine market, the American wine industry has charged New Delhi with adopting "highly protectionist measures" to shield the domestic industry.
WTO bullish about success of Mexico round
The first five months of 2023 have witnessed at least six major events/trends that augur badly for global economic and socio-political prospects, points out Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
He conveyed India's position to visiting Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization Jose Graziano da Silva whom he urged to take the lead in protecting the interests of the poor and farmers at the World Trade Organisation.
'When so many young Baloch men and women are willingly volunteering as fighters and even suicide bombers.'
WTO summit will see whether decade-long negotiations would go forward or be brought to an end.
'As long as people are willing to compromise on quality for a lower price, the unorganised retail sector will stay.'
West Bengal has been granted Geographical Indication status for the sweet.
Trade ministers from 162 WTO countries will gather in Kenya's capital from Dec. 15-18 to work on an agreement to liberalise global trade.
Jasprit Bumrah is the most complete bowler in international cricket, said former South African seamer Vernon Philander.
It have also called for enhanced monitoring of all protectionist measures and high-level political awareness of the associated macroeconomic risks.
It is time to shrug off the ideological shackles about the way we work, play and live, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who took the initiative of hosting the informal meeting of important countries and blocs like the US, European Union, Brazil, China and Australia, remained busy today with officials. While it is being seen as a bold step by India to re-energise the Doha talks after they collapsed at Geneva in July 2008, New Delhi is consciously keeping the pitch low so as not to raise expectations from the meeting on Thursday and Friday.
India on Wednesday banned 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including the popular game PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security, taking the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by New Delhi to 224.
Gloom over ministerial, courtesy US-China spar, conflict between cotton-producing African nations.
India topped the table of the countries resorting to anti-dumping investigations between July and December 2008, while Brazil, China and Argentina were other major users of the WTO-compliant trade remedy to protect their domestic industries against cheap imports.
The United States is creating a new strategic framework for the 21st century and its Trans-Pacific Partnership is just one of the pillars of the new edifice, says Sanjaya Baru.
Country's apex business chambers -- CII, Ficci and Assocham -- have said the WTO draft on Non-Agriculture Market Access under the Doha Round of trade talks was in complete disregard to the mandate of the round, which had to revolve around lesser obligation on the developing countries for duty reduction.
The delegation was to meet with business and government leaders both in New Delhi and Mumbai, coinciding with the Innovative Technologies for manufacturing Expo 2009, an international B2B exhibition and conference, India's largest trade show focusing in agro& food processing, auto components and chemicals and fertilizers as well as electronics and electrical engineering.
The California walnuts shipped from the US to India have seen a sharp uptick with imports more than doubling from September to November against the same period last year. This comes after New Delhi removed its retaliatory customs tariffs on the key dry fruit. Two days ahead of US President Joe Biden's visit to New Delhi to attend the G20 Summit on September 9-10, India dropped additional customs duties on about half a dozen US goods that were imposed in 2019 in response to America raising tariffs on certain steel and aluminum products coming from India.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has completed the merger of its media assets with the India business of global media house Walt Disney and formed a joint venture with a valuation of over Rs 70,000 crore. The JV will be one of the largest media and entertainment companies in India with a combined revenue of approximately Rs 26,000 crore and will be led by Nita Ambani as its chairperson, according to a joint statement.
World Trade Organisation director-general Pascal Lamy now maintains that it is rather early to set the dates for a ministerial meeting to finalise the modalities for cutting agricultural subsidies and import as well as industrial tariffs, trade envoys said.
At the 9th review of the US trade policy regime, many members -- China, Norway, Thailand, the European Union, among others -- sharply criticised Washington for not adopting WTO-consistent policies in several areas.
