FTAs have not served Indian economy well in capacity building: S Jaishankar

21 Jul 2020 Evaluate

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the free trade agreements (FTAs) that India entered into over the years have not been able to largely serve the country's economy well in terms of building its capacities, though all such pacts are not the same. He said there are ways of engaging the world which do not necessarily have to be ‘FTA-centric’. He, however, added that all the FTAs are not the same. He also warned of a more protectionist global economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talking about non-alignment and the current geo-politics, the external affairs minister said it was a term of a particular era and particular geopolitical landscape. Noting that India maintains a strong streak of independence in its foreign policy, he said people turn to the country as part of solution, as it has been a key player in dealing with all major global issues and challenges like maritime security, climate change and terrorism. He said ‘if we are to grow by leveraging the international situation, then you have to exploit the opportunities out there. Either you are in the game or you are not in the game.... I would say that the era of great caution and very much greater dependence on multilateralism, that era is to a certain extent behind us.’

He further said ‘we have to step out more, we have to be more confident, we have to articulate our interests better, we need to take risks because without taking risks like in business or in banking, you cannot get ahead. Those are the choices we have to make and I think there is no getting away from it.’ He noted that the relations at times are impacted by the interplay of politics and sharp positioning. Therefore, he said ‘we need to create those structural linkages between us and our neighbours so that they care of political cycles and any volatility their politics may produce.’

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