Golden opportunity for India to benefit from ties with APEC, say experts

Indian entrepreneurs will benefit from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) travel card, which allows visa-free travel among member countries. India could, in turn, inject dynamism and bolster economic integration of the region.

The Dollar Business Bureau APEC Countries of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) share many interests with India and there is a golden opportunity for the forum and New Delhi to benefit from deeper cooperation, a foreign ministry official said. “There is a golden opportunity for India and economic forums such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to benefit from deeper engagement. There is today a significant and identifiable convergence of interest and aspirations between India and APEC member economies,” said Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs. Wadhwa released a report ‘APEC and India: An Appraisal’ prepared by VS Seshadri, Vice-chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) at a function organized by FICCI, RIS and ASEAN-India Centre on Friday. Wadhwa said that the inclusion of India in the APEC will also give impetus to India’s next generation of economic reform. “India’s Act East Policy envisions increased cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure development, connectivity, capacity building and strengthening people-to-people contacts in the region, goals which are shared by APEC too,” he added. India has already launched several liberalization measures in services sector, particularly in insurance, air and rail transport, and construction services. Another potential area of cooperation between India and APEC is government procurement and competition, where India’s progress is quite comparable to those of APEC developing countries. “India has also undertaken reforms in customs procedures whereby procedures have been simplified and the transparency standards are more or less comparable to several APEC economies,” Wadhwa said, adding that a formal engagement between India and APEC would reduce transaction costs of doing business, paving ways for greater harmony and mutual recognition of standards and professional qualifications. Indian entrepreneurs will also benefit from the APEC travel card which allows visa-free travel among member countries. India could, in turn, inject dynamism and bolster economic integration of the region. While presenting his report, Seshadri said that it would be desirable for India to join APEC as it would provide an impetus for domestic trade and investment facilitation initiatives. The cooperation will open networking opportunities at official, expert, business and think tank levels and strategically enable India to have wider options on emerging global trade governance, Seshadri said. He added that increasing recognition of India’s contribution to maritime security, rescue and rehabilitation at the time of disasters and accidents and its efforts to improve connectivity with South East Asia would also act in India’s favour. Seshadri also suggested the government to articulate its interest, purpose and policy before pursuing for membership of the forum. He advised Indian government to diplomatically approach APEC members including Australia, Japan and ASEAN countries apart from the US and China. India should also take up this matter with the chair countries Philippines, Peru and Vietnam and seek to participate in some APEC working and expert groups, he said. The Phillippines will host the annual summit of APEC this year, while Peru and Vietnam are expected to chair the meetings in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Sidharth Birla, former president of FICCI, said that India’s rapidly growing political, economic and strategic ties with many APEC economies are encouraging signs of an endorsement of India’s efforts to join APEC. A closer integration between India and the APEC can boost India’s investment prospects, establish links with global supply chains and bring in APEC as a partner in India’s development agenda, he said. Shyam Saran, Chairman, RIS, said that once the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreements are established, they will impact the global trading mechanism. India would find it difficult to conform to the TPP and TTIP standards as they would be different and much more arduous. Hence, India would need to effectively respond to TPP and TTIP, if it is not a part of these mega free trade agreements. In such a scenario, he said that if India secures a membership of APEC, it will be able to take forward its economic growth agenda and remain an active player in the global market.