Cites recent pacts as evidence of country’s growing economic clout
Mumbai: India is engaging with international partners more intensively and from a “position of strength”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday, citing a string of recent trade agreements as evidence of the country’s growing economic clout.
In an address at the Global Economic Cooperation conference, Jaishankar highlighted the successful negotiation of several high-profile deals, including a significant trade pact with the United States.
The Global Economic Cooperation is an event organised by the Future Economic Cooperation Council in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs and the government of Maharashtra.
Describing the current international landscape as perhaps the most turbulent in living memory, the minister warned that the world is witnessing the “weaponisation” of production and finance, alongside tightening export controls and volatile market shifts.
“The established global order is clearly changing. Replacements are hard to create, and we appear to be headed to a long twilight zone. This will be messy, risky, unpredictable, perhaps even dangerous,” he said. Long-standing assumptions and expectations have now become questionable, the minister pointed out.
Key dimensions are transforming simultaneously, be it strategic, political, economic or technological. Solutions lie in de-risking and diversifying across multiple domains. This approach is increasingly visible in the policy of nations, the EAM said.
Jaishankar stressed that the “reform express” will continue to roll on.
“From a position of strength, India is engaging international partners more intensively. This is demonstrated in the recently concluded trade deals,” he said.
Economic security is best served through stronger self-reliance and more trusted partners, the minister added.
Following a phone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, both sides recently announced a reduction of US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent.
However, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has alleged that the government “sold Bharat Mata” through the trade deal with the US, saying it was a “wholesale surrender”, with India’s energy security handed over to America and farmers’ interests compromised.
Last month, India and the European Union (EU) concluded negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), which will help boost two-way commerce and strengthen economic ties between the two sides. Over the last year, India has also finalised trade deals with the UK, New Zealand and Oman.
Jaishankar said that the world has entered a volatile and uncertain era, possibly the most turbulent in living memory.
He emphasised that India will also be more salient in the global calculus of production, on services, technology, skills and knowledge.
Economics will give way to politics and security when it comes to making choices and technology in the age of AI (Artificial Intelligence), he noted.
