International Agreements and India

Principles by Themes

The following themes occur in a number of sets of principles:

·         Alternative energy sources

·         Assumption of greater responsibility by industrial nations for sustainability solutions.

·         Clarifying and acting on values

·         Diversity of life

·         Elimination of over-consumption

·         Eradication of poverty

·         Gender equity

·         Greater democratic participation in decision- making

·         Increased access to reliable information

·         International cooperation/global partnership

·         Limits to nature’s resources

·         Needs of future generations

·         Peace and security

·         Precautionary principle

 International Agreements and India

Since the United Nations Stockholm Conference of the Human Environment in 1972, the international environmental legal regime has experienced manifold progress. At a broader level, the agreements regime has expanded in scope since environmental issues are no longer considered in isolation to social and economic concerns. With economic growth and development, issues related to ecological sustainability and social equity have also been receiving growing importance. India has remained at the forefront of global sustainable development policy formulation and has supported the development of global agreements and policies that are fair and equitable.

Key Agreements

1.       Economic:

Global trade agreements

India was one of the initial signatories to the General Agreements in tariffs and trade (GATT) that came into existence in 1947. GATT was later replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which was established in 1995. India is also a member of the world Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) , based in Geneva, which administers treaties in the field of intellectual property. Department of industrial Policy and Promotion is the nodal Department in the Government in the Government of India for all matters concerning WIPO. India is also a member of two major treaties, namely, Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (relating to patents, trademarks and designs) of 1883 and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (relating to copyright) of 1886. Apart from these, India is also a member of the patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which facilitates obtaining of patents in several countries by filling a single application.

The Doha round of negotiations is the current trade negotiation round of the WTO, which commenced in November 2001. The overarching objective of these negotiations is to achieve major reforms of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and other trade measures. Key areas of negotiations include agriculture, non-agricultural market access (NAMA), services, intellectual property trade and development ,trade and environment , trade facilitation, WTO rules and dispute settlement, essential for achieving larger goals of sustainable development . Although the Doha Development Agenda includes several issues aimed at promoting development in LDCs and developing countries, the discussions so far at the WTO have, concentrated mainly on agriculture, NAMA and sometimes services. More recently, WTO rules have also received some attention.

Unfortunately, except for public health related challenges, which were sorted through the TRIPS Agreement, other key developmental issues, introduced in the 2003 round of negotiations, such as debt and finance, technical assistance and capacity building and technology transfer have not been attended to in these discussions.

Henceforth, there have been no proposals on such developmental issues. Even on agriculture and NAMA, there has been a lack of progress in term of developing a consensus. Such poor progress in the negotiations tends to create a breakdown of trust between developed and developing countries. Although India has always supported a multilateral trading system, the slow pace of negotiations and fulfillment of developmental needs of the economy, has forced India into a number of regional trade agreements.

Regional Trade Agreements

Apart from South Asia, India has expanded its relations in trade related aspects with the economies of East and Southeast Asia.  India signed a RTA with Association of South East Asian Nations in the year 2009. It has also several bilateral agreements with East Asian countries, including Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Singapore in 2005 and a FTA with Thailand in 2003. Recent initiatives include the economic partnership agreement with South Koran in 2009, along with Japan and Malaysia in 2011. Such agreements are expected to give a major boost to India’s trade and exports. India has also signed a Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) with Mercado Comun Del Sur (MERCOSUR) OR COMMON Market of the South that is aimed at increasing trade, including the mutual granting of tariff preferences.

Apart from MERCOSUR, it has also signed a PTA with Chile in 2006. India is party to the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) among developing countries that came into existence in 1988; GSTP lays down rules, principles and procedures for conduct of negotiations and for implementation of the results of the negotiations. The coverage of the GSTP extends to arrangements in the area of tariffs, Para-tariff, non-tariff measures, direct trade measures, including medium and long-term contracts and sectoral agreements.

Bilateral Investment treaties

With liberalization of India’s foreign investment policy, India has entered into bilateral investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPAs) with many countries. BIPA is defined as an agreement between two countries for the reciprocal encouragement. Promotion and protection of investments in each other’s territories by the companies based in either country /9or State). The investment treaties have been signed with an expectation to provide a favourable investment climate to foreign investments in India, while simultaneously protecting Indian investments abroad. Till 2007, India had signed BIPAs with 68 countries with 53 BIPAs already being enforced and rest in the process of being implemented.

Multilateral Investment treaty

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) a member of the World Bank Group promotes foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging economies to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. India is also a member of the MIGA, that encourages developmentally beneficial investment by providing political risk insurance (PRI) against the risks of currency inconverbility and transfer restrictions; expropriation; war, terrorism and civil disturbance; breach of contract; and non-honouring of sovereign financial obligations. Since its inception, MIGA has provided more than $ 22 billion in guarantees (PRI) for more than 600 projects in over 100 developing countries. MIGA currently has an outstanding guarantees portfolio of $ 8.4 billion and provide for new Greenfield investments. New investment contributions are associated with the expansion, modernization, or financial restricting of existing projects, acquisitions involving privatization of state enterprises, and existing investments with high development impact when the investor demonstrates a long-term commitment to the project.