South African President Jacob Zuma thanked Commerce Minister Anand Sharma for India's support in the matter, when the two met here this morning. India had been lobbying for South Africa's inclusion.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said India will not "rush to" the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the "regressive" steps taken by the US recently, which include an increase in the visa fee and a special levy on foreign manufacturers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will review the proposed bilateral trade and investment agreement between India and the EU at the meeting of the Trade and Economic Relations Committee (TERC) on May 29.
The government on Tuesday decided to cancel the examination for appointment of postmen held on July 14 to hold it in all local languages including Tamil.
Given the return of near 9 per cent growth, and that too a more broad-based growth covering rural and urban areas, and against the background of rising support prices for farmers, it is now clear that excess demand has come to play a larger role in exerting pressure on the price line.
Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma met his counterparts from the ten Asean-member nations to review the progress of negotiations at Da Nang.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma offered 'four principles' to break the impasse in the stalled-Doha trade negotiations, insisting that only a pronounced shift towards 'development objectives' could enable 'developing countries to bring more to the negotiations'.
Charging the multinational companies with making several drugs beyond the reach of the poor, visiting Commerce Minister Anand Sharma today asserted it is the Indian generics which have challenged such a "suffocating stranglehold" and made the medicines affordable.
Currently, trade between India and Africa stands at about $45 billion.
Earlier this week, commerce secretary Rahul Khullar met EU director-general for trade David O'Sullivan to review the progress so far. Several differences mired the process over EU's insistence on including social issues such as human rights, labour policies and climate change within the FTA purview.
The successful conclusion of the Doha round of trade negotiations would substantially augment global trade, Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma said here.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said he had strongly brought up India's concern over the denial of professional visas for its workers, in his meetings with senior Obama Administration officials.
India will unveil a single policy for foreign direct investment, including in sectors such as financial services, insurance and banking by March 31, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has disclosed.
Gandhi met the president and handed over a memorandum signed by two crore farmers demanding a repeal of the laws, saying they will not benefit farmers or labourers.
The agreement that provides for both India and ASEAN reducing tariff on agreed goods has come into force with all but Cambodia and Philippines.
Contesting the US charge that Indian FDI rules are "opaque", Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday said the country follows a simplified direct investment regime.
The $31-billion company, which sources around 30 per cent of its global consumption from India, had also criticised the Indian government for not opening foreign direct investment in single brand retailing.
The US controls exports of sensitive equipments, software and technology.
If economic pundits and analysts are to believe, India's growth story presents a rosy picture and it is destined to be a significant economic power soon.
Noted lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ram Jethmalani and Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma were on Thursday elected in the Rajya Sabha polls in Rajasthan, while a Congress-supported Independent candidate was defeated.
Getting to the magic growth, however, will require massive increase in investment in infrastructure, in labour force skills and manufacturing capacity.
The country would also ink the free trade pact with Malaysia in the same week.
India will make yet another effort at the ministerial level to give a push to Doha Round of WTO trade talks before leaders of the G-20 meet in Seoul next month.
The fresh initiative by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to meet ambassadors of the key members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, in a bid to revive the deadlocked Doha round of trade negotiations, is well-timed though a positive outcome may be doubtful.
Draft Press Notes on FDI regulatory framework fail to address the gap between the domestic and foreign regulatory regimes.
Considering the challenges, he was seen as a lightweight. One year later, his report card shows few breakthrough achievements but hardly any mess-ups.
With a view to simplify foreign direct investment process, the government plans to introduce a single FDI document by end-fiscal and is currently discussing the various modalities, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Monday.
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma has shrugged off the recent irritants that have cropped up less than six weeks before US President Barack Obama makes his visit to India as 'transient negativity', and predicted they would 'get dissipated' soon.
The Congress party's consistent foreign policy has made India expand and diversify its commerce base and, as a result, it is poised to figure among the top three economies of the world by 2030, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Monday.
Officials in the government, however, said India could only lodge a protest and not take legal action against the US.
A senior European Union representative said here on Tuesday that the body would soon change its Customs laws to address the issue of seizures of Indian generic drug shipments while en route for export to other countries.
The government on Tuesday indicated that it was open to changing FDI norms for multi-brand retail sector, saying policies 'are not cast in stone'.
India is negotiating for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Malaysia and Japan and a broad based trade and investment agreement with the EU.
India has not changed its position on agriculture and industry at the World Trade Organisation negotiations on freeing global trade to protect the interests of its farmers and small enterprises, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said.
India's exports, which saw the steepest fall of 39.2 per cent in May at the height of the global financial crisis, stands arrested at 6.6 per cent in October, and the government said it would provide more support to select segments in December.
Officials from India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would resume their talks to widen of the scope of a Free Trade Agreement with the 10-nation trading bloc to cover services and investment.
According to the Press Notes 2, 3 and 4 of the department of industrial policy and promotion, for a company or entity to be treated as Indian, foreign investment, including American and global depository receipts, foreign currency convertible bonds, convertible preference shares and from non-resident Indians, in it should be less than 50 per cent.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said that India has been less affected by the current global economic crisis due to the economy's strong fundamentals.
Over the past five years, US-India trade has more than doubled and the US continues to be India's largest trading partner -- if goods and services are counted -- a total bilateral trade standing at $65.9 billion in 2009.
Jaitley said India needed to grow by additional 1-1.5%.
