India Expresses Concern Over Trade Protection at Davos

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Feb. 2 – Indian minister of commerce and industry Kamal Nath who led the Indian delegation at the World Economic Forum last week in Davos expressed deep concern over countries adopting protectionist policies. He warned against barriers in outsourcing and trade of services and goods, fearing that trade restrictive activities from richer nations could drastically harm developing nations.

“History is witness that whenever countries try to prop up protectionism, it intensifies depression,” Nath told the Press Trust of India.

In light of ensuring stability and lessening global financial turmoil, Nath also called for the foundation of a “supra international regulator” for designing a system of regulatory norms that are then followed in all national jurisdictions, or for alerting national regulators of risks building in the financial system, have influence over the alignment of exchange rates or oversee global financial institutions whose activities spill across borders, the Economic Times reported.

India is feeling the brunt of the economic slowdown which it believes originated in the west due to lax regulations. Exports have slowed down and exporters don’t expect to meet the US$200 million target set for this fiscal year. The textiles, gems and jewelry and small and medium scale industries have been most severely affected, with millions of jobs being threatened.