The meeting will be held from March 28-30in Mumbai with participation from over 100 delegates from G-20 member countries, invitee countries, regional groupings and international organisations.
New Delhi has identified five priority issues—growth and prosperity, resilient global value chains, MSMEs, logistics, and WTO reform—under its G-20 presidency. Of these, it will focus on four in the first meeting.
Making trade work for growth and prosperity, and building resilient global value chains (GVCs) will be discussed with an emphasis on achieving shared outcomes for making growth inclusive and resilient, increasing the participation of developing countries and the Global South in GVCs, said commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal.
Issues related to the World Trade Organization, including a reform of dispute settlement and a robust appellate mechanism, will be discussed later.
During the meeting, the role of banks, financial institutions, development finance institutions and export credit agencies in closing the trade finance gap, and how digitalisation and fintech solutions can improve access to trade finance, will also be discussed.
Addressing the worrisome increase in trade barriers across goods and services, and smothering trade by focusing on trade facilitation are the prime concerns for India.Discussions on digitising bills of lading, as most countries are yet to build digital infrastructure for their documentation, are also likely.
The TIWG will next meet in June in Kewadiya, Bengaluru in July, and then in Jaipur in August.