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The Commerce Ministry is peeved at the lack of coordination within the Government during the services trade negotiations at the bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and even the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) multilateral trade negotiations.
According to an internal note seen by Business Line , the Commerce Ministry said that “while negotiating these agreements (FTAs), it has been seen that there is no internally coordinated approach in the Government towards dealing with this (services) sector in a cohesive manner.”
The Ministry said it usually holds inter-ministerial consultations and meetings with industry associations, professional bodies and other stakeholders for feedback and inputs during such negotiations.
However, the Ministry rued that since there is no defined group of stakeholders that can be regularly consulted, at times it does not get timely and meaningful responses.
Significantly, it also said during multilateral and bilateral negotiations, “important issues are often addressed in an ad hoc fashion.”
A close coordination with other ministries and stakeholders will also help India in WTO multilateral talks where negotiations for disciplining domestic regulations of countries are currently on, the Commerce Ministry said.
These domestic regulations include qualification requirements and procedures, licensing requirements and procedures, implicit market access barriers, all of which are affecting India's professionals trying to offer their services in markets abroad, it said.
It further said India is pitching for greater market access abroad for its service providers, and that disciplines on domestic regulations is India's key demand.
The Ministry said only an institutional arrangement in the form of an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) will help in sensitising other Government departments of the reciprocal measures required in service sectors and in turn help trigger regulatory reforms.
The IMG can suggest steps to address domestic regulatory and resource issues hampering the growth of services sector policy as well as identify key areas in domestic reforms to enhance India's services exports sector's potential, it said.
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