‘When world is facing uncertainty, India is busy building bridges of trade’: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal
He was speaking at the valedictory session of the 5th National Export Competitiveness Summit 2026 organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). While the minister joined the program through video conferencing, the summit took place at a private star hotel in Chennai.
Themed “Reform, Realize and Transform”, the summit brought together senior government officials, policymakers, diplomats, financial institutions and industry leaders to discuss the roadmap to achieve India’s USD 1 trillion export target.
Highlighting what he described as India’s expanding footprint in global trade, Goyal said, “While the world faces uncertainty, India is busy building bridges of trade, trust and transformation.” he said.
He noted that the country, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has signed nine free trade agreements (FTAs), all with “developed economies”.
“Today, India enjoys privileged trade access to almost two-thirds of global trade. All the nine FTAs made under Prime Minister Modi’s watch have been with developed economies that do not compete with India but complement India’s rapid growth journey,” the minister said. he said.
Goyal added that India’s position in global trade has changed significantly in recent years. “Today, the world no longer asks whether to trade with India. The question increasingly asked by nations today is, how fast can we trade with India? How fast can we expand our business with India?” he said. The minister also noted that India started free trade agreement negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council within six hours on the same day, started concluding talks with Israel and was preparing to start negotiations with Chile.
The minister also highlighted the benefits of deeper trade partnerships for Indian exporters, noting that trade in goods with Australia and the UAE has doubled following the conclusion of the respective FTAs.
Outlining a four-point strategy to accelerate export growth, Goyal called for wider distribution of FTA benefits to MSMEs and local clusters, renewed focus on world-class quality standards, movement towards higher value products in the value chain and stronger corporate mentoring to create export ecosystems at the district level.
The summit concluded with a call for stronger collaboration between government and industry to position India as a leading global export hub.
