Goyal emphasises on reciprocal market access for Indian goods

Tsukuba: Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has called for de-escalating trade tensions and urged several countries to grant reciprocal market access for Indian products.

He held a series of bilateral talks with representatives of Japan, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, the European Union, Britain, France, Spain, China, Singapore, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Australia.

The meetings were held on the sidelines of two-day G20 Ministerial on Trade and Digital Economy here on June 8 and 9, according to an official statement released on Monday.

Goyal said the slowdown in global trade and investment is of serious concern as it adversely affects economic growth, development and job creation. He called for de-escalating trade tensions and reviving confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system.

While India is committed to working towards building free trade that is inclusive and development-centric to bring prosperity to people around the world, focus on the imperatives of meeting the goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and eliminating poverty and deprivation must not be lost, he said.

With the advent of digital technologies, services are vital drivers of growth, said Goyal. Servicification of the manufacturing sector is enhancing the importance of services in global trade. Major investment is also being driven by the services sector.

“Thus, we need to remove barriers and facilitate the temporary movement of highly skilled professionals to sustain this investment and growth,” said Goyal. “India urges G20 to provide preferential market access to micro, small and medium enterprises in developing countries to be part of global supply chains.”

In his address, the minister said there is no doubt that digital technologies are impacting economies in a significant way and nations that fail to adapt to these changing realities run the risk of being left behind.

Technologies can be disruptive if not harnessed at the right time. He said that concerns over loss of jobs and revenue besides erosion of competitiveness are real.

The deliberations on trade, investment and the digital economy will feed into the Osaka Summit Declaration which will be adopted on June 29.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]