"Modi government has been very cautious on FTA," EAM Jaishankar says

New Delhi [India], December 5 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been cautious about FTAs. He was speaking at the Bharat @100 event by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)
Jaishankar said that the government tries to keep farmers' and MSMEs' (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) interests while negotiating the terms of FTAs.
https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1864579938449543273
"Modi government has been very cautious on FTA for two reasons. Number one, weighing the experiences and the results of previous FTAs and number two, our concern for the impact of FTAs on MSMEs. We will always keep MSME interest and the interest of our farmers in mind when we negotiate FTAs. We have been pressing very strongly. For a review of the ASEAN India trading goods, agreement, because we have concerns about the impact of that FTA on the development of manufacturing in it, and we feel that that FTA should not become, in a way, damaging to the Indian economy. When it comes to EU and UK, I think it's complex, because there are many non-trade issues also, so those also have to be negotiated so and in the case of EU, because there are multiple members, everybody has their interest. Overall we benefit we believe that these will benefit us. It is also a fact that if you become excessively dependent on single supply chains, or you in the name of supply chains, you open up your market so that it is not no longer a supply chain, but your sectors are getting hollowed out. We don't want to end up as a market of other countries. We have to find a right balance here," he said.
Speaking about PM Modi's governance, the EAM said that 10 years has made the government stronger, despite the Covid break.
"10 years... I would say, has stronger, better, more effective governance, 10 years and with the Covid break. When Covid first came our knowledge, I'm talking to January of 2020. Actually, in the world, everybody thought that the biggest hit would be India. And if you look around the world, be very honest, a lot of countries, even even developed countries, are not entirely recovered," he said.
Jaishankar said that even Europe is still plagued with the problems induced by Covid.
"If you see Europe today many of their problems are blamed on the Ukraine situation, not wrongly, but a lot of them also post Covid, actually found it hard to come back in there," he said.
Jaishankar said that the world is interested in India, and the feeling in the world was that they would come to India.
"You know the Chandrayaan landing was huge... World is interested. World wants to deal with us. We have to make it easier. We have to make it profitable. We have to make it mutually advantageous. The world is a competition. There are some other countries also who are, a magnet, in many ways, for investment so, but overall, I would say today is the world that feeling that let's go to India, that, you know, I'm seeing that impressed much more," he said.