Govt, experts talk SOPs for contemporary issues under modern FTAs

The Department of Commerce on Tuesday said that the government, along with trade experts, has discussed standard operating procedures (SOP) for contemporary issues under modern free trade agreements (FTA) such as labour, environment, and gender, among others.

The discussions took place at the two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ spearheaded by commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal to firm up India’s position and strategy for FTA negotiations.

The meeting saw intense discussions to understand the implications of new areas such as environment, labour, and gender in trade agreements, the issues involved in enforcing domestic laws and ratifying international treaties, different approaches followed by developed countries for these areas (US and EU models), and the challenges involved in defining policy space, law enforcement, and civil society involvement.

“Some of the solutions suggested by participants included constructive engagement with stakeholders, supporting identification of measures and possible ways out, and exploring pilot projects for implementation of those commitments,” an official statement said.

There were also suggestions that FTAs can be used as tools to enhance supply chain resilience, ensuring stability and sustainability in trade relationships.

“It also emerged during discussions that India should negotiate a dedicated chapter on critical minerals or critical minerals-based agreements, especially with such mineral-rich countries, to protect India from abrupt disruption in the supply chain,” the statement said.

The Chintan Shivir unfolded across six sessions, including economic assessment and modelling of FTAs, addressing new disciplines into FTAs such as labour, environment, gender, indigenous peoples, services and digital trade in FTAs, SOPs for FTA negotiations including stakeholder consultations, capacity building and FTA resource management, and leveraging India’s FTAs to address emerging areas such as carbon border tax, supply chain disruptions, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence, among others.

The meeting saw the participation of senior government officials involved in India’s FTA negotiations from various government ministries, departments, national and international experts in FTA negotiations, academicians, and legal professionals.