India blocked the passage of the Trade Facilitation Agreement at the World Trade Organisation in July, leading to numerous allegations and criticisms. India also found herself isolated with many of its traditional WTO allies – such as, China, Brazil or South Africa – crossing the floor. On its part, the Indian government has asserted that it’s not against the TFA, but not at the cost of food security. There is one collateral gain from all of this: the entire episode has focused attention not only on the future of trade multilateralism but has also brought agri-issues to the fore once again.
Why did India behave so strangely on a multilateral forum?
On October 17, Gateway House held a discussion to analyse India’s stand on the Trade Facilitation Agreement. The discussants were Suhail Nathani, Co-founder Partner, Economic Laws Practice and Gateway House’s Senior Geoeconomics Fellow Rajrishi Singhal.
The meeting was the 4th in the Gateway House Economic and Business Series.
Suhail Nathani, is Co-founder and partner at Economic Laws Practice. Has been involved in several of the Indian trade remedial measure cases at every level – Designated Authority, Appellate Authority, the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India.
Rajrishi Singhal is Senior Geoeconomics Fellow, Gateway House. He has been a senior business journalist, and Executive Editor, The Economic Times, and served as Head, Policy and Research, at a private sector bank, before shifting to consultancy and policy analysis.
Gateway House has also written a Policy Perspective on the same issue. CLICK here to download the pdf version of the Policy Perspective.
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