The Hindu Business Line : `Good response to India as investment destination'

INDIA and like-minded developing countries which met in Davos recently would come out with a united position on agriculture in their forthcoming meeting in New Delhi in March 2005 besides exchanging views on other issues like non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and services to evolve common position on these subjects, said the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath.

Speaking to newspersons after his return from Davos and London, the Minister said that the mini-Ministerial of 33 trade Ministers of the WTO and G-20 meeting held in Davos on January 29 also underlined the need to accelerate the process of trade negotiations at Geneva.

The next such meeting would be held in Kenya on March 3-5 and there would be another, to be convened by China, in July this year.

At the meet in Kenya, the WTO Director-General would present a note on issues for discussions and resolution.

Stating that the Davos meet reiterated its commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and the July Framework, Mr Nath said that there was a broader agreement on achieving "a balance on overall subjects and to resolve problems in all five sectors such as agriculture, NAMA, services, rules and trade facilitation".

In the run-up to Hong Kong's full-fledged WTO Ministerial in December 2005, there would be intensive Ministerial involvement and political directions throughout the year. He hoped that the Doha Round of trade liberalisation would be launched in 2006. The Minister said that his understanding was that modalities for agriculture and NAMA would be finalised in the Hong Kong Ministerial.

"There should be critical mass offer on services as well as significant progress on rules and trade facilitation."

A tentative first draft for the Hong Kong Ministerial would be finalised by August 2005, he added.

The Minister added that during his interaction with CEOs in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum and later in London, there was tremendous response for India as an investment destination.

As the investors felt over-exposed in China, they look to India and find it an ideal place for drug manufacturing as also a hub for medical research and clinical data management.

On FDI, he said that the figure for the current fiscal might be double of the $5.6 billion the country received last year.

The impression he had gathered during his interaction with foreign investors in Davos and London was that many developed countries were looking towards India as their investment destination in view of its liberal FDI policy and strong growth prospects of its economy.

He cited the case of South Korea, which has lined up heavy investment into India of the order of $5 billion in the next couple of months.

Meanwhile, official sources said that the Group of Ministers on Special Economic Zone headed by the Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, would meet on February 11 to finalise the omnibus legislation for SEZs in the country to be presented in the forthcoming Budget session in order to attract more FDI into greenfield units in these zones.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page