India hopeful of consensus among G20 nations on 5 trade, investment issues

G20 nations also aim to remove bottlenecks that impede integration of MSMEs in international trade

Amid continued differences in positions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India is hopeful of a consensus among the Group of Twenty (G20) nations on the five key trade and investment issues that countries have been deliberating since the beginning of the week in Jaipur.

“There is a possibility of a ‘good outcome document’,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said, adding that there are realities on which consensus is not possible.

In the past, the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, two meetings of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, as well as the Energy Transition Meeting in July, ended without a joint communiqué due to diplomatic tussles between the West and Russia over the war in Ukraine.

“We are confident that tomorrow (Thursday) and the day after the ministerial meeting, we will come up with a concrete, actionable agenda that will help the world withstand any future shocks,” the minister told reporters.

The two-day G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting, starting Thursday, is being held in Jaipur. The meeting was preceded by the fourth and final Trade and Investment Working Group meeting under India’s G20 Presidency on August 21-22.

Government officials told Business Standard that even as the meeting of the officials from all the G20 nations has been making good progress, uncertainty continues regarding whether there will be a joint communiqué at the end of the ministerial meeting on Friday, considering past trends.

During the working group meetings that started in March, five priority areas were identified: trade for growth and prosperity, resilient trade and global value chains (GVCs), integrating micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) into world trade, logistics for trade, and World Trade Organization reforms.

“We have been able to come up with significant consensus among member countries, invoking a Jaipur ‘Call for Action’. It will help promote the industry, the MSME sector, upgrade the global trade helpdesk, and bridge information gaps for MSMEs to help them expand their business and trade,” said Goyal.

There have also been deliberations on formulating high-level principles for the digitalisation of trade and trade facilitation since technology has profoundly impacted the way cross-border trade is undertaken. In this regard, India has been advocating for a paperless trading system to further reduce transaction costs, make smaller shipments more cost-effective, and enable the internationalisation of operations at a lower cost.

G20 nations also aim to remove bottlenecks that impede the integration of MSMEs in international trade. Furthermore, as 70 per cent of the world trade occurs through GVCs, the trade and investment working group has been deliberating on developing a mapping framework that could make GVCs resilient towards future shocks.

At the sideline of G20 meet, Goyal meets WTO DG, France, UAE Trade Minister

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday, who emphasised rules-based, open, inclusive multilateral trading systems.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty meet and also comes ahead of the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference, scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi in February next year.

“During WTO’s inception, the thought was that decisions should be made keeping in mind the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, which means that countries should be given responsibilities according to their growth potential,” said Goyal.

Besides, it is important to revive the dispute settlement mechanism that has been dysfunctional for several years.

The minister also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Brazil, France, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and Bangladesh.

Over the next few days, Goyal is also expected to hold talks with UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, European Union’s Executive Vice President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development in Canada Mary Ng, among other key ministers.