US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and UK Secretary of State for International Trade Kemi Badenoch will be among Ministers attending the G20 Trade and Investment Meet in Jaipur next week which will focus on building consensus on global trade and investment-related issues including resilient global value chains, integration of MSMEs in global trade and transition to paperless trade.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to hold bilateral meetings with the attending Ministers, including Tai and Badenoch.

Discussions on the India-UK FTA is likely to get a significant push during the meet, according to Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal. “This G20 Ministerial meeting is useful for us to conduct some of the important bilaterals with respect to our FTAs. The UK is coming with their team. We will be having high-level meetings with the UK on FTA,” Barthwal said.

Bilateral meetings will also be held with the official teams of the European Union (EU) and Canada where discussions are expected around the FTAs being negotiated.

The WTO Director General is also scheduled to attend the Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting (TIMM) in Jaipur on August 24-25 and discussions are expected on reforming the WTO as well as the forthcoming Ministerial Conference in February next year.

The meeting will be preceded by the 4th and last Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency which will take place on August 21 and 22.

Both the meetings will be attended by more than 300 delegates, including Trade Ministers/Secretaries and heads of delegations from G20 member countries, invitee countries, regional groupings and international organisations, per the government.

Developing frameworks

As 70 per cent of the world trade manifest through GVCs, it is imperative for the G20 TIWG to deliberate on developing a framework that could make GVCs resilient towards future shocks, the Secretary said.

Since MSMEs are vital for job creation and boosting GDP, it is apt for G20 to address three critical dimensions of inadequate access to business and trade-related information, finance and markets that hinder participation of MSMEs in global trade, he added.