The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal today called upon fellow Ministers of neighbouring countries to work together to transform the subcontinent. He was addressing the “CII: Partnership Summit -Ministerial Meeting” virtually from New Delhi.
The Minister called for enhancing India’s economic ties with the nations of the Southern African Customs Union which consists of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho. He said that India is looking for FTAs with like-minded nations with transparency and mutual benefit and growth as key pillars.
He added that India is also reviewing existing FTAs with ASEAN, Japan, Korea to strengthen them and forge enhanced trade alliances with countries like UAE, EU, UK, Israel, Australia, Canada, Russia, Oman, and the GCC.
The Minister said that during the Covid pandemic, India has emerged as a source of resilience and a trusted partner and added that we had tried to the best of our ability to meet all our international service commitments.
He said that during the course of the pandemic, India had not only become self-sufficient in the production of critical medical supplies, PPEs, testing kits, and masks but had also supplied these necessities to nations in need. He highlighted India’s one-of-its-kind vaccination drive, through which 1.3 billion doses of vaccine have already been administered.
The Minister also assured that India would continue helping nations in need as we intrinsically believed in brotherhood, partnership, and the need to work together to solve problems collectively. He added that India had focussed on its neighbourhood during the pandemic and stood ready to support all its friends with vaccines and medical supplies.
Pointing out that India’s voice was visible in the G20 declaration this year, which successfully amplified the voice of the developing countries of the world, the Minister said that the world is acknowledging India’s leadership.
The Minister said that the Indian economy has recovered sharply and added that the rising economic indicators point towards ‘an India shaping up for a growth decade’.
The Minister said that India had seen a GDP growth of 8.4 percent in Q2, high exports, high FDI, and large amounts of investments being done by Indian companies in other nations, he urged the Ministers to invite Indian companies to invest in their economies and help create jobs.
Minister further said that we need to focus on vital aspects which will impact our future and direction of growth, as we deepen our global engagements. He outlined 6 areas on which India is focussing to build a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient ecosystem for future partnerships; Trade Agreements, Investments, India’s strengths as a supply chain alternative, Ease of Doing Business, Innovation, and Sustainability.
Goyal said that the Government has been inviting businesses of other countries to seize investment opportunities as ‘India is the place to be’ with its accessibility, choice, openness, and opportunities.
Listing potential sectors for investments including healthcare, infrastructure, defense, energy, civil aviation, insurance, and Technology, the Minister said that various schemes to facilitate trade and investment, including PLI Scheme, and Liberalised FDI policy were being executed.
The Minister said that India’s diverse business landscape, skilled workforce, relatively low labour cost and initiatives to boost infrastructure such as National Infrastructure Pipeline, GatiShakti, National Monetisation Plan would certainly give a fillip to investments and yield good returns.
Speaking of India’s quest to improve Ease of Doing Business, he said that initiatives like the National Single Window System and the Industrial Land Bank were helping improve the ease of doing business significantly.
The Minister said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, New India is becoming the global hub for innovation with the third largest startup ecosystem with 79 Unicorns. He said that startups have the potential to catalyse India’s integration in global value chains and create global impact.
Emphasising India’s initiatives in the direction of sustainable development, Goyal said that India will reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and meet 50% of its energy requirements from Renewable Energy, one of the world’s most ambitious Renewable energy programs. It may be noted that India has pledged to achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2070.
The path to economic growth must be intertwined with a commitment to sustainability. The Minister said that as India celebrates ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to mark 75 years of Independence, it is also preparing a blueprint for the next 25 years to determine where India will be at 100 years of independence.
He invited Ministers participating to join hands with India to bolster our collaboration in Research and Development, innovation, Intellectual Property Rights, etc.
Speaking of India’s confident march on the path of rapid growth with ‘Sabka Prayas’ of 130 crore citizens, Goyal said that this is the time to be in India and invest in India!
He called upon Ministers from various nations to take forth the agenda of strengthening partnerships between India and the world and re-stabilize and revitalize economies in the post-COVID-19 world.