New Delhi, May 6 India has been successfully negotiating bilateral treaties with many different countries and European Union (EU) is "top of our priority because of the traditional links which we have with the EU", Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.
Addressing the "ADB Governors' Seminar: Cross Border Collaboration for Future Resilience" in Italy's Milan, the Finance Minister said the global fragmentation and also the way in which the April tariff announcement by the US has panned out, uncertainties are increasing and simultaneously global institutions are not carrying the heft they were carrying earlier.
"In such a situation, countries are today looking at bilateral arrangements. In the case of the EU, India has been negotiating for quite some time. But today, the sense of urgency is felt by both sides because the market can be one big market. So, you need to have investments in various countries, you need to have market access in different countries, and you need to have bilateral arrangements," FM Sitharaman told the gathering.
She further added that negotiation is about the art of making it possible.
"You need to have everything done to make it possible to achieve. But when there are fixed positions, someone will have to bring in the elasticity there. So, it's not as if the world has not negotiated with one another. But it cannot be violative of the acceptable principles of free trade," the Finance Minister mentioned.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Sir Keir Starmer, on Tuesday announced the successful conclusion of a mutually beneficial India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
On global supply chains, FM Sitharaman said India’s approach to supply chains has not been short-term.
"We've taken a long-term approach. Our approach is to strengthen ourselves more on the basis of the assets that we have, whether it is in the form of human capital or technology in which we have a lead, if I can say that way, and also in sectors in which we think we can build further," she added.
“We have about 600 million people who are less than 25 years of age. So, we are not dealing with an economy which is ageing. We've developed Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to make sure that access to the global market is given to even the citizen who's somewhere in a far-flung area in a village with some handicraft products that he wants to market," she told the audience.
The minister also interacted with top executives of global banks at an event on the sidelines of the 58th ADB Annual Meetings 2025.
In her keynote address, the Finance Minister reiterated the commitment of the government to ensure that the banking system operates efficiently and delivers services to all segments of the customers.
She appreciated the role of global banks in supporting the Indian corporate sector accessing global capital and also invited the international banks to strengthen their presence in India.
She also met International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) President Alvaro Lario and discussed mutual cooperation for empowering rural communities, enhancing food security, and advancing sustainable agriculture
FM Sitharaman also emphasised India's successful initiatives in poverty reduction, rural infrastructure and DPI as replicable models in the Global South via South-South Cooperation.
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