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Nirmala Sitharaman
India wants to promote trade settlements in rupee to help partner countries facing a shortage of hard currencies so that they continue importing essential goods, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. When countries struggling to access hard currencies often face difficulties in maintaining trade despite their need to import goods, and local currency settlements could help address the problem, she said in an interaction with the Atlantic Council on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings at Bangkok, Thailand. "One of the things that we in India want to do is to settle in rupee, whatever the payment is got to be done by those countries which import goods from us," she said. She said India was working towards facilitating rupee and local currency settlements to ensure that trade continued with countries facing foreign currency constraints. "Rupee and local currency settlements are something which we want to do for the benefit of countries which are starved of
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday expressed hope that the India-US trade agreement would be concluded at the earliest, in the interest of global trade and bilateral economic ties between the two countries. "I think recently the Indian Commerce Minister has also spoken that they expect and wish to have the agreement signed soon. Negotiations have been going on. I hope, in the interest of global trade and in the interest of trade between the two partners, India and US, the trade agreement gets concluded at the earliest," she said. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the first phase of the India-US trade pact has been finalised and is undergoing legal drafting. On trade with China, Sitharaman said the growing trade imbalance and persistent restrictions on market access for Indian products remained major concerns, despite years of engagement with Beijing. India has consistently sought market access in China for products such as generic medicines, ..
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and discussed further strengthening bilateral cooperation. "Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt @nsitharaman called on H.E. Mr. @Tharman_S, President of Singapore, at The Istana, in Singapore, today. The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange views on taking forward the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and further strengthening bilateral cooperation," the finance ministry said in a post on X. Singapore Prime Minister, in a separate post on X, said, "We had a good discussion on global economic developments and on navigating the ongoing energy crisis. She also shared updates on developments in India and new opportunities for investment and cooperation". Besides, Sitharaman also met Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. "There are many opportunities for Singapore companies to participate in India's long-term growth prospects. ..
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said a new template for bilateral investment treaties is ready and is expected to get Cabinet approval soon in a bid to make it more investor-friendly. The new template, being prepared over the last one-and-a-half years, seeks to address shortcomings in the model approved in 2016 and provide sharper protection to investors from both sides, she said. India has continued negotiations on investment protection agreements even as the new template is being finalised, she said at the Munich Security Conference here. The latest agreement, with Saudi Arabia, goes beyond the 2016 framework and incorporates elements that are more sharply focused on protecting the interests of investors from both countries, she said. India has also concluded similar agreements with the UAE, Oman and some Central Asian countries, Sitharaman said. "We have a new template which will be approved shortly. But in the meanwhile, we've not halted the process. We are ...