India’s entry into APEC likely focus of Modi-Obama talks

“One concrete thing I hope would be on the agenda is India entering into Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),” Panagariya said during a discussion on Wednesday at the Asia Society Policy Institute when asked what is on India’s economic agenda as Modi visits the White House and as Obama’s presidency is in its final months.

Panagariya had noted during the discussion that trade agreements like with APEC will be a “stepping stone” but APEC by itself “is not going to get you very far” and greater market access requires getting into other agreements. He however added that Prime Minister Modi himself committed to India entry’s into APEC and during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit had sought Tokyo’s support for New Delhi’s entry into the trading bloc.

He said India has been “slower” than other countries in entering free trade agreements, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya said India will need to capture some of the world markets if it has to sustain an eight to 10 per cent growth rate over the next 20-25 years.

“On the Free Trade areas, India has been certainly slower than other countries,” Panagariya said at the discussion on the two years of the Modi government responding to whether a trade-led growth is a priority for the government.