CII's suggestions on trade pacts

NEW DELHI: Industry body CII said on Sunday that it is preparing a list of suggestions for the government on signing free trade pacts.

CII's WTO and other Trade Agreements committee would finalise the list of recommendations soon and will submit it to the government, a chamber release said.

R V Kanoria, Chairman of the committee, said the government should consider these inputs while negotiating FTAs. The guidelines would include issues of negative list, common floor tariff and rules of origin, he said.

Kanoria said a multilateral agreement for trade liberalization under WTO was more suitable for India compared to bilateral trade and investment agreements.

Bilateral agreements having divergent standards with different countries may not help India remain competitive in the international market, he said.

Kanoria said CII fully supported trade liberalisation but cautioned that unilateral tariff liberalisation should be calibrated with internal reforms in labour, agriculture and infrastructure. He also called for rethink on cuts in peak customs duty, till domestic reforms are completed.

On the on-going negotiations at the World Trade Organisation, he said CII was of the view that for the Doha Round to succeed member countries need to focus on the development objective of the Round.