Trade policy: Commerce Ministry proposes long-term vision document

The Commerce Ministry on Tuesday proposed to develop a long-term vision document regarding India's trade policy.

"There is a need to strengthen institutional structures at federal, state and local-levels of government for formulating a coherent long-term vision of India's trade policy," Commerce Secretary S R Rao said at an event in Delhi.

He was inaugurating a two-day round table on future contours of India's trade policy, organised by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).

Mr Rao said that the document should be based on inputs on different variables that could affect the trade policy.

"It is crucial to identify relevant variables, establish a mechanism for monitoring developments in respect of each variable and inputing the variables in the process of trade policy formulation."

India's trade policy should project a comprehensive set of national interests which can be pursued on a sustained basis in the long term, IIFT director Surajit Mitra said while speaking on the occasion.

"Given the diversity of policy objectives that can be secured through trade policy, it is imperative that the country establishes suitable institutional mechanisms to address this challenge," Mr Mitra said.

India needs to develop a strategy for transition towards the kinds of regulatory standards and disciplines which reflect the future, said former deputy director-general of the WTO, Harsha Singh.

At present, the Commerce Ministry has come out with a five-year foreign trade policy.