India working to develop China ties again, says Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: India is working to develop its relations with China again, but the last word has not yet been written on this journey, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Wednesday. At the Bloomberg New Economy event, he also said India is open to joint ventures with any country, provided it gets a fair deal. Goyal also described India's relationship with the US as "substantive and consequential" for both countries, expressing confidence that bilateral ties would strengthen further.

"We are open to all countries around the world as long as we get a fair deal, as long as we ensure continuity in the engagement, and as long as the geopolitical situation does not deteriorate. I think we had some concerns in the past. We are working to develop relations with China once again, but the last word has not yet been scripted on this journey," he said.

On India's relationship with the US, he said: "It is already very good. I don't see any problem as we speak, also, and to my mind, the relationship with the US that India enjoys is very substantive, very consequential for the world, being two large democracies". Highlighting that "by and large, I don't see any problem in any agreements also with the United States", referring to the pacts on trade, and partnerships on defence, technology and critical minerals.


Responding to a question on whether there'll be more willingness to listen with another American president, Goyal said: "I think the US and India have a very, very consequential relationship, and it's only going to get better, irrespective of changes in political thinking, whether in India or in the US. The relationship draws its strength from our economic imperatives, from our political imperatives, from our security imperatives. So it's a very safe relationship. I don't think the rest of the world needs to worry about it".

Aatmanirbharta, value chains

Citing $130-150 billion annual purchase on semiconductors by India, Goyal said the countries cannot be totally dependent on other parts of the world, and the same story goes on in many critical sectors where countries have sought to weaponise their supply chains or whatever they have in terms of natural resources or technology.

"Having said that, we do not believe in isolation," he said, adding that India is willing to engage with its partners, but the critical element in all of this is trust. India, he said, is looking for trusted partnerships where both trust each other to be a part of supply chains. "It is a fair mix of efficiency amongst friends and self-sufficiency for critical elements where we can ensure that, for example, food security is something every country today is very conscious of, but it's not necessary that everything has to be done here", he said, adding that at the aggregate, India has now become quite self-sufficient in critical elements like food, energy, and the focus now is to see that our trading partners and our friends around the world and India work together for both efficiency and self-sufficiency as integrated chains.

Goyal explained that it was during the Covid-19 pandemic when the government recognised the vulnerabilities that the country had to go through when supply chains were broken.