In view of the meeting of the Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG) in Mumbai, India has the opportunity to lead the discussions on the challenges pertaining to global trade and investment, especially from developing countries’ viewpoint.
In the post-pandemic transition, reorienting international cooperation is vital. With the global economic and political outlook bleak, it becomes crucial to provide support to the concerns of developing economies. Consequently, the role of G20 as a premier forum for discussions and policy coordination of common interest is crucial.
In the past presidencies of G20, India has focused on agendas on liberalisation of trade, inclusive growth, energy transitions, and other areas.
Through its presidency, India has the opportunity to ensure the developing world’s agenda is furthered as common agenda at G20. Some of the key priorities that need to be discussed are:
Easing of supply chains: The global supply chains faced serious constraints due to Covid-19, resulting in significant strains on international trade and investment. In the current times, there is utmost need to ensure building of resilient supply chains to minimise negative impacts of unexpected disruptions.
For this, India can extend its support for further advancement of trade facilitation and seek the strengthening of global regulatory cooperation from member countries, as a toolkit for resilient supply chains.
Protectionism: The pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have led to a rise in global protectionism, with imposition of various sanctions on both exports and imports.
The rise in protectionism has further accelerated the slump in global trade. Protectionism is one of the biggest threats to multilateralism and needs urgent focus.
India needs to push the agenda for consensus building towards enhancement of fair and non-discriminatory trade flows.
Reforming multilateral institutions: Promoting an open, inclusive, equitable and transparent multilateral trading system would serve the greater economic interest on a large scale. Through TIWG, India has the opportunity to push towards strengthening of multilateral institutes by consensus building.
Reviving of the institutes will ease the cross-border trade flows
Trade and tech: In the post-pandemic world, to gain from the advancement in digital technology, there is a strong need for a collective policy. The advancement in the technology will offer significant opportunities along with high-tech solution to SMEs.
For this, the G20 forum can be utilised to further the agenda and ensure developing countries are facilitated with affordable infrastructure.
India has the unique opportunity to push for devising better policies and consensus building by leveraging its position as G20 leader.
Maryam is Senior Consultant at EY India, and Gopalakrishnan is Fellow and Former Head, Trade and Commerce, NITI Aayog India. Views are personal