Editorial: Good signs for FTA with India
All the signs are there that the Free Trade Agreement negotiations are firmly back on the table, with renewed enthusiasm and energy.
While the newly elected government in India is giving cautious signals that the stalled FTA will come back onto the agenda, although it will have to include a commitment to competitive markets and the agricultural sector if it's to succeed, as Trade Minister Tim Groser pointed out this week to more than 300 attendees at the Business Beyond Barriers summit in Auckland.
India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand, Ravi Thapar, since his arrival here seven months ago, has emphasised that FTA talks are continuing, and just needed ‘‘some tweaking’’ to accommodate clauses which would then provide mutual benefit to both countries - exactly as FTAs are meant to do.
Under new Prime Minister Narendra Modi (of the Bharatiya Janata Party), the world’s largest democracy has just shifted rightward as a Hindu nationalist party, although this historic election has reversed a long tradition of coalition governments.
The mood and overtones between the two countries at the India New Zealand Business Council organised business summit was friendly and engaging, yet one couldn’t help feeling an undercurrent that there is a some significant factor holding up the process towards the conclusion of the FTA.
New Zealand and India have made "some progress" towards a free trade agreement, but negotiations are "not in the space we want to be", Groser told attendees at the summit.
The potential benefits of a trade agreement with India would be of the same magnitude as New Zealand's FTA with China or even greater.
New Zealand trade officials have had "friendly conversations" with the new Indian government since Modi's landslide election win in May.
The discussions had covered the long-running talks over an FTA between the two countries, but Groser said he was "not expecting clarity soon".
What can Modi’s government offer in terms of its foreign policy?
Soon after his election victory, Modi announced his intention “to make the 21st century India’s century.” His foreign policy will be driven by a desire to bring about India’s economic transformation, considering he has already been credited with the rapid economic growth in his home state of Gujarat.
It is likely that Modi will help transform how business is done in India and seek foreign investments to upgrade the country’s rickety infrastructure. How he manages the interests of the corporate sector with those of the tens of thousands of small shopkeepers and labourers who supported him will be the big test of his economic and foreign policy alike.
Like his predecessor Manmohan Singh, Modi is aware that India cannot rise economically by trying to leave its immediate neighbours behind, commentators say. So while there will be differences in style in Delhi, a radical change in India’s foreign policy is unlikely.
Thapar also time and again emphasised that New Zealand should re-brand itself as a ‘‘smart nation with smart technology and innovators, not just a primary industries nation. India would be interested in a deeper economic co-operation with New Zealand, of which trade was just one aspect.
All signs point to a keen desire on the part of both countries to engage in free trade, further delays in sorting out differences will benefit neither.
All the signs are there that the Free Trade Agreement negotiations are firmly back on the table, with renewed enthusiasm and energy.
While the newly elected government in India is giving cautious signals that the stalled FTA will come back onto the agenda, although it will have to include a...
All the signs are there that the Free Trade Agreement negotiations are firmly back on the table, with renewed enthusiasm and energy.
While the newly elected government in India is giving cautious signals that the stalled FTA will come back onto the agenda, although it will have to include a commitment to competitive markets and the agricultural sector if it's to succeed, as Trade Minister Tim Groser pointed out this week to more than 300 attendees at the Business Beyond Barriers summit in Auckland.
India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand, Ravi Thapar, since his arrival here seven months ago, has emphasised that FTA talks are continuing, and just needed ‘‘some tweaking’’ to accommodate clauses which would then provide mutual benefit to both countries - exactly as FTAs are meant to do.
Under new Prime Minister Narendra Modi (of the Bharatiya Janata Party), the world’s largest democracy has just shifted rightward as a Hindu nationalist party, although this historic election has reversed a long tradition of coalition governments.
The mood and overtones between the two countries at the India New Zealand Business Council organised business summit was friendly and engaging, yet one couldn’t help feeling an undercurrent that there is a some significant factor holding up the process towards the conclusion of the FTA.
New Zealand and India have made "some progress" towards a free trade agreement, but negotiations are "not in the space we want to be", Groser told attendees at the summit.
The potential benefits of a trade agreement with India would be of the same magnitude as New Zealand's FTA with China or even greater.
New Zealand trade officials have had "friendly conversations" with the new Indian government since Modi's landslide election win in May.
The discussions had covered the long-running talks over an FTA between the two countries, but Groser said he was "not expecting clarity soon".
What can Modi’s government offer in terms of its foreign policy?
Soon after his election victory, Modi announced his intention “to make the 21st century India’s century.” His foreign policy will be driven by a desire to bring about India’s economic transformation, considering he has already been credited with the rapid economic growth in his home state of Gujarat.
It is likely that Modi will help transform how business is done in India and seek foreign investments to upgrade the country’s rickety infrastructure. How he manages the interests of the corporate sector with those of the tens of thousands of small shopkeepers and labourers who supported him will be the big test of his economic and foreign policy alike.
Like his predecessor Manmohan Singh, Modi is aware that India cannot rise economically by trying to leave its immediate neighbours behind, commentators say. So while there will be differences in style in Delhi, a radical change in India’s foreign policy is unlikely.
Thapar also time and again emphasised that New Zealand should re-brand itself as a ‘‘smart nation with smart technology and innovators, not just a primary industries nation. India would be interested in a deeper economic co-operation with New Zealand, of which trade was just one aspect.
All signs point to a keen desire on the part of both countries to engage in free trade, further delays in sorting out differences will benefit neither.
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