Gateway Features
Trade ties support Indonesia’s G20 year
Courtesy: Shutterstock//Creativa Images
Indonesia has just delivered an important milestone of its G20 Presidency – the Think20 Summit in Bali, Sept 4-6, 2022. The Think 20 (T20) is the “ideas bank” for the G20 – a key mechanism through which G20 policy-makers engage the pooled resources of the global academic, research and think tank community to solve global problems. As co-chairs of T20 Taskforce 1 on Open Trade and Sustainable Investment, we hope G20 governments will take notice of the many common sense recommendations in the T20 Communique read more
Gains from India’s new FTAs
Courtesy: Economic Times
A looming global recession could dampen global trade and Asian supply chain activities. Meanwhile, India is pursuing several free trade agreements (FTAs) with Australia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom (UK). What do these developments mean for India? Global trade came to a virtual standstill following the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns in 2020. Global supply chains centred on China as the global assembly hub, were hit by sky-rocketing sea freight charges and shortages of workers and intermediate inputs. read more
India’s Trade Policy in the 21st Century
Courtesy: Routledge
Global trade in the last two decades touched a record $28.5 trillion from less than $10 trillion and, remarkably, the share of developing countries has grown substantially to 40 per cent. India’s share in global trade increased from 0.5% to 1.6%, while that of China’s doubled from 6.7% to 12.3 per cent. The share of East Asian and ASEAN countries, especially Vietnam, has also dramatically improved during this period. Economist Amita Batra explains these shifts in global trade in her book read more
T20 Task Force Notes on Open Trade, Sustainable Investment and Industry
Courtesy: T20 Indonesia
Amidst the constrained economic recovery and geopolitical uncertainty, the trade-investment and-industry nexus should be the catalyst to achieving robust and sustainable economic growth, especially for least-developed countries (LDCs) and developing countries. Moreover, the supply chain disruptions that occurred after the COVID-19 outbreak have provided justification for governments to shift from multilateralism and adopt nationalist, protectionist and unilateral policies and measures, as well as forgoing bilateral and regional agreements, thus accelerating the ongoing pattern of fragmentation. Therefore, a call for international cooperation in trade, investment and industry is imperative to address pressing challenges such as the global health crisis, climate change and supply chain disruption. read more
The GH Podcast
Research
Low global commodity prices, strong FDI inflows, and sustained growth have boosted the Indian economy in the preceding decade. This favourable economic climate, however, was disrupted by the pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine, exposing vulnerabilities in the global economic system. This paper focuses on India’s economic security challenges, particularly in six sectors - Food, Energy, Finance, Data, Space & Undersea Cables and Critical Minerals - and suggests possible courses of action.
Foreign Affairs
China’s expansionist nuclear programme aims to bolster its capabilities, so much so, that Beijing's predictions boast 2500 new warheads by 2030, thus rivalling the American and Russian arsenals. As the dragon quadruples its nuclear propensity, heralding the world to something greatly unstable – a tripolar nuclear system; nuclear peace seems a quite convoluted goal.
Book Reviews
India is slowly entering new trade frontiers, and there is much to prepare, says economist Amita Batra. Trade policy must look ahead at the ‘WTO plus’ provisions which are beyond tariff-based market access, and services, India’s strength, should be an integral part of any trade deal. For those efforts to succeed, domestic reform is urgently needed.
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