G20 Jaipur Trade Meeting: Here's What May Be On The Agenda

India is planning to take forward its free trade agreement with the U.K., meet with the U.S. Trade Representative and engage with Canada and the EU bilaterally on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 meeting in Jaipur.

As the G20 chair, India's priority will be to strike a consensus and arrive at a ministerial declaration prior to the leaders' summit in New Delhi on Sept. 9–10, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Friday.

The highlight of the meeting would be the ministerial statement on trade and investment issues, which they hope will come out on Aug. 25, the final day. The ministerial statement will serve as an outcome document prior to the leaders' meeting.

India will host the fourth Trade and Investment Working Group meeting on Aug. 21–22, which will draft the final communique ahead of the G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting from Aug. 24–25 in Jaipur.

The officials will then take part in the B20, or Business 20, events in New Delhi from Aug. 25–27 where they will interact with various industry and business leaders.

India hopes to explore topics of resilience of global value chains, take forward discussions in terms of inclusive trade development and diversification, and non-tariff barriers, according to Barthwal.

Discussions will also include subjects like regulations and compliances for Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the World Trade Organization reforms, particularly on improving the appellate-body mechanism that is currently defunct, the official said.

As part of its listed priorities, the TIWG will look at:

• Trade for growth and prosperity.

• Trade and resilient global value chains.

• Integrating micro, small and medium enterprises in global trade.

• Logistics for trade.

• WTO reform.

B20 To Welcome Top Global CEOs

B20, the business grouping under the aegis of the G20, will meet in New Delhi after the ministerial meeting, with many of the delegations joining right after the Jaipur meeting, according to Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary at the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

Singh said many global CEOs would be present at B20 including the likes of Adobe's Shantanu Narayen, Mastercard's Michael Miebach, IBM's Arvind Krishna and others.

From India, the group will be led by B20 Chair and Tata Sons Chairperson N Chandrasekaran. In attendance will be top honchos like Sunil Bharti Mittal, Sanjiv Goenka, Uday Kotak and Sanjiv Puri, according to the Commerce Secretary. "It will be an opportunity to showcase India's growth story to global CEOs and take their inputs ahead of the leaders' summit."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may also join the valedictory ceremony of the B20 meeting, Singh said.