India pursuing FTAs with mature, rule-bound markets: S Jaishankar

Business Standard

3 hours ago

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has termed India's bilateral trade agreements as the 'space to watch', and said New Delhi has, over the past 11 years, pursued trade pacts with countries that have 'more mature markets' and are more 'transparent and rule bound' compared to East Asian countries.
Jaishankar said India is now more interested in key free trade agreements. He said the one with the United Kingdom is more or less finalised, the one with the European Union is in advanced stages of negotiation, and there have been several rounds of discussions between Indian and American officials for a bilateral trade agreement.
In an interview to public broadcaster DD India, a link to which the minister posted on X on Saturday, Jaishankar said that in the years following economic reforms, most of India's trade agreements were with Southeast Asian nations, which 'skewed the balance' as several of these economies competed with India and did not provide market access. It was important to make the correction and reach an understanding with more mature markets, which are more transparent and rule bound.
Jaishankar said India's trade pacts with the United Arab Emirates and Australia are significant achievements, describing New Delhi's push for FTAs as the 'space to watch'. In 2019, India did not join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trading bloc that comprises the 10-member ASEAN grouping and other Asia-Pacific economies, including China, Australia and Japan.
He said India has, in the past 11 years, systematically tried to 'deepen our posture, our strategic posture, to have good relations with all major countries, but also other regions, so that we get into the optimal position'.
In the past 11 years, the EAM said, the consistent theme underpinning India's foreign policy has been planning for a multipolar world, which India not only desires as it gives it a higher profile and more influence. 'But it is not just the question of our wishes, that is the direction in which the world is moving,' he said, which is why New Delhi, despite enormous pressure on it, maintained its relationship with Russia, he added.
About India's ties with the US, he said, 'Where the US is concerned, yes, there is unpredictability, therefore at a systemic level, you stabilise it with as many linkages and relationships as possible.'
On India's relations with China, Jaishankar said, 'With China, if you have to stand up to that country and we have had some very difficult periods, (and) so it is important to prepare the capabilities.' The minister said a 'really perplexing' aspect of India's China policy before 2014 was the 'complete neglect of our border infrastructure in the previous decades'.
'To have a China policy and neglect your border infrastructure was absurd,' he said. 'And that is one of the things which has changed. We have today that standing up, in defence of our national interests, along the LAC. It is because we have built the border infrastructure to make that possible,' Jaishankar said.
On India's ties with its immediate neighbours, Jaishankar said that India 'should not expect smooth sailing' all the time. He said New Delhi has attempted to shape a 'collective interest' to build an inherent stability in relationships, irrespective of changes in regimes. At the end of the day, 'the logic every one of our neighbours must realise' is that working with India will 'give you benefits', and not working with India 'has a cost', he said.
'Some take longer to realise, some understand it better. One exception of course is Pakistan, because it has defined its identity under the army, in a way it has an in-built hostility in it. So if you put Pakistan aside, the logic will apply everywhere else,' the EAM said.