NEW DELHI: India reaching a trade agreement with the United States close on the heels of a landmark agreement with the European Union has installed greater confidence in the country in the eyes of the global community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday, calling the agreements “future-ready”.
Replying to a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, the Prime Minister said India’s trade deals with the EU and the US have instilled confidence in the world that it is moving towards global stability.
“India is signing future-ready trade deals with several nations. In the last few days, we have signed trade deals with nine big nations, including the ‘mother of all deals’ with the 27-nation bloc of the European Union,” he said.
Modi said India does not have to either look back or stop, but only move forward to achieve the goal of Viksit Bharat.
The Prime Minister said the world has been unstable due to the situation that arose post covid-19 outbreak.
“In such a scenario it is very clearly visible that a new world is moving towards a new global order. After the second world war, there was a world order. Now the world is moving rapidly towards a new world order and the biggest joy of all the events, if you analyse politically and with no bias, then inclination is towards India,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said India has become a trusted partner of several nations.
India and the European Union on January 27 sealed a landmark free trade agreement — billed as the “mother of all deals” — to create a market of two billion people.
Within a week of the deal with the European Union, India and the US agreed to a trade deal under which Washington will bring down the reciprocal tariff on Indian goods to 18 per cent from the current 50 per cent.
US President Donald Trump said that India will move forward to reduce its “tariffs and non-tariff barriers” against the US to zero.
Modi said the Opposition will have to one day reply on what they did to the nation in the past and added that a lot of his energy was spent in rectifying the mistakes of the past Congress-led governments.
“When the trade deal with the European Union took place, the world became more confident of stability. After the trade deal with the US, the world has still more confidence… It is a good sign for the world,” Modi said.
The PM said other countries wanted to participate in India’s bright future and were looking forward to signing trade deals with it.
He said the President of India has expressed confidence in India’s bright future in her address to the joint sitting of Parliament.
The Prime Minister also sought the support of people in his mission for achieving quality without compromise. He said as the country is moving towards achieving its dream of Viksit Bharat with new spirit and energy in all sectors, “we have to focus on quality without any compromise”.
“We will hear Made-in-India and Made-in-Bharat across the world,” he exhorted.
The Prime Minister observed that the country was moving forward in several sectors, including space, science, technology and deep sea, even as work had started on green hydrogen, AI and rare earth materials.
Modi also talked about reforms in the public sector and said from reporting continued losses, public sector undertakings were now posting record profits.
On reforms in the banking sector, he said NPAs in banks had come down to below 1 per cent now. He also talked about bank mergers and strengthening their financial base.
The PM said the country was leading the convoy on the path towards development. and added that other countries are thinking they might miss the bus as India has moved forward.
Earlier, the PM started his speech amid sloganeering by the Opposition.
Modi also took a dig at the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and suggested that he can keep raising slogans while sitting.
The Opposition later staged a walkout. (PTI)