PUBLIC DISCOURSE TO FOSTER UNDERSTANDING
OF GIVE AND TAKE DIMENSION OF WTO NEGOTIATIONS VITAL FOR MAXIMISING
COUNTRY'S TRADE GAINS: JAITLEY
ICAI SEMINAR
ON WTO - CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Shri Arun Jaitley,
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice,
has called for a directional change in public discourse to foster
proper understanding of the give and take dimension of multilateral
trade negotiations in order to ensure that the country can fully
avail of the opportunities offered by the WTO system. Addressing
a seminar on 'WTO - Challenges and Opportunities' organised by
the Northern India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered
Accountant of India (ICAI) here today, Shri Jaitley said: " the
direction of public discourse on such issues must be objective.it
cannot be emotive. This (alone) will enable us to understand where
our interest actually lies."
Stressing that the services sector provides the greatest opportunity
for India with its vast knowledge resource and knowledge based
industries, Shri Jaitley urged the representatives of the services
sector, including the professional services, to raise the level
of discourse above slogans and to look at the issues in a manner
that would help in taking advantage of India's core competence
in these areas through liberalisation of world trade in services.
He highlighted the importance of movement of natural
persons (mode 4) as an issue to be addressed in the ongoing WTO
negotiations, besides other modes of interest to India such as
business through electronic means (mode 1). At the same time,
he said it must be understood that opening up of services or any
other sector had to be onthe basis on reciprocity in a multilateral
trading system.
Stating that services represented the most robust sector of the
Indian economy, Shri Jaitley said that the different segments
of services offered tremendous future possibilities for India
in view of the rapidly changing demographic profiles worldwide
and other factors. He referred in particular to the success of
India in Information Technology and its growing potential in health
care services and said: " IT is a great sung success story and
pharma is an unsung success story of India", underlining the potential
of the country's great knowledge base and growing R & D in
the pharmaceutical sector.
He also said that the traditionally strong manufacturing sector
additionally offered opportunities because of low-cost advantages
and observed that India's merchandise exports were doing well
despite rupee
appreciation. Agriculture, he said, would be a great challenge
for the future in the context of the need for domestic reform
as well as the existing external constraints facing this vital
sector.
