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India for expediting WTO deal
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SME Times News Bureau | 24 Mar, 2017
India on Thursday called for expediting negotiations at the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) on a trade facilitation agreement in services (TFS),
saying multilateral bodies cannot afford to deliver slowly in the
present global context.
"I hope it will not take too long because
the disillusion that multilateral institutions are delivering slowly
cannot be afforded any longer in the political reality of the globe
today," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a workshop in New Delhi on
TFS, organised by the Commerce Ministry and the World Bank.
India
has presented a concept note at the WTO for a TFS Agreement, which
proposes a way forward on comprehensively addressing the numerous border
and behind-the-border barriers on the lines of the historic trade
facilitation agreement in goods.
The TFS proposal aims at
liberalising rules for movement of professionals, liberalised visa
regime and long-term business visas.
Referring to the concerns
raised by certain WTO members that TFS means more market access and not
facilitation, Sitharaman said these two are completely different issues.
"Facilitation is going to bring in transparency and also great deal of reduction of regulatory constraints," she said.
India
is pushing for a TFA in services at the WTO as this sector has huge
potential and contributes significantly to the country's economy.
Pointing
out that the Indian services sector contributes over 55 per cent to the
country's Gross Domestic Product, Sitharaman earlier said India was
unable to leverage its strength in services to get the necessary
benefits in the TFA in goods signed with the Asean group, for instance.
Meanwhile,
India's paper for a proposed TFS Agreement has been well received by
many member countries, WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo told
reporters here during a visit last month.
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