Explore Business Standard
IIFT
The Commerce Ministry's Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) will "very" soon start a course on negotiations, as this is an important skill set required in areas like free trade agreements, a top government official said on Saturday. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal also said that Abhijit Das-authored "Strategies in GATT and WTO Negotiations" book can be a starting textbook in the Center for WTO Studies and IIFT. While releasing Das's book, he said there was previously no publication that provided a comprehensive perspective on trade negotiations. "When we look at these issues in the Department of Commerce, we always felt that there is a need for a negotiation course, which IIFT will be starting very soon," the secretary said. With the increasing number of free trade agreements, negotiating skills are going to be key in the coming days as it involves officials from different departments. India is negotiating several agreements including with the US, the UK, Oman, Australia, Pe
The commerce ministry's Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) has moved up twelve place to 15th rank under the management category in the NIRF ranking 2024. The ranking under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was released by the HRD ministry on August 12. In the last year's ranking, IIFT was at 27th spot as against 24th in 2022. It was 25th in 2021, 26th in 2020 and 31st in 2019. The institute was ranked at 23rd rank in 2018, 30th in 2017 and 81st in 2016. NIRF was launched in 2015 to rank higher educational institutions in the country based on objective criteria to promote competitive excellence in such institutions. IIFT was established in 1963 as an autonomous body under the ministry to contribute in the skill building for the external trade sector of India.
The commerce ministry is looking at setting up a centre for negotiations, as this is an important skill set required in areas like free trade agreements and other business deals, a top government official said on Tuesday. Addressing students and faculties of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) here, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said the centre can also help in creating a skill set among students of the institute. "Negotiations are going to be a very very important skill these days. When we do FTAs, negotiation skills are a very important tool, so we have to create one centre for negotiations. But that centre is not just supposed to do FTA (free trade agreement) negotiations, we have to get into the broader framework of negotiations, which also involves mergers and acquisitions and other business deals," Barthwal said. This centre will not be only for the government, but it will also be able to create skill sets among IIFT students. "So, that is the initiative, we will