Imperatives of regulatory diplomacy
Regulations are the new focus of economic statecraft. Their increasing importance is reflected in the negotiations on global financial standards, plurilateral trading rules, and regional economic unions.
Regulations are the new focus of economic statecraft. Their increasing importance is reflected in the negotiations on global financial standards, plurilateral trading rules, and regional economic unions.
Indian infrastructure financing has for long suffered from rating concerns, but recent changes to credit enhancement are helping to plug this gap, enabling investment by foreign insurance and pension companies, and stimulating project exports.
Prime Minister Modi’s tour of four African countries will seek to build upon recent high-level visits to the continent, providing fresh impetus for the reinforcement of India-Africa relations in matters of diplomacy, business, security, and energy while putting to rest criticism of India’s visibility deficit in Africa. However, the onus to harness this momentum now lies with other stakeholders.
India now sees Africa as a promising market for Indian goods, services, and investments. This is evident in the government’s recent concerted focus on the India-Africa relationship—high profile visits by top leaders to African countries, a recasting of India’s development diplomacy, and an attempt to match action to past promises
The result of the Brexit referendum is nothing less than a body blow to Bretton Woods organisations, International Monetary Fund-North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-World Bank, that originated at the end of the Second World War. The possibility of an Asian century becomes more feasible, if India can be nimble enough to make the most of the opportunity which has presented itself in Europe.
On June 23, the United Kingdom will vote on whether they wish to remain a part of the European Union through the Brexit vote. The debate surrounding the vote has spurred many a heated and emotional debate. While the Indian government has not declared anything publicly - remaining in the EU would be beneficial to Indian businesses.
The crippling effect of American sanctions are thorough; designed to strangle economies and bring entire nations to a halt. However, they unknowingly pull people together, imparting a deep sense of patriotism and often sparking innovation which can quickly surpass any other world power. With sanctions being lifted on nations like Myanmar, Iran and, hopefully, Cuba, the question remains whether they will retain their uniqueness or fall into line with the rest?
Five rather unfavourable trends define India’s trade performance over the past two years; these trends also provide useful pointers as to where India’s future trade strategy can go over the next three years as it deals with a global economic slowdown, the rise of megatrade agreements and a pivot to a more intensive trade relation with the U.S.
India must be fully engaged in the emerging G20-led international policy agenda being developed to deal with global structural weaknesses and raise public investment where fiscal space is available. India and other emerging markets offer higher investment returns---partly because of their demographics---and their deepening international integration makes them attractive.
In two years, the Modi government’s Act East Policy has gone well beyond the focus on economic ties of its predecessor, the Look East Policy. It has made progress on many wider fronts, including connectivity and defence collaboration. India must now build on this success and further consolidate relations and trade links with ASEAN and beyond