Laying emphasis on the correlation between the country’s foreign policy, its foreign economic policy and its foreign commerce policy, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that the three were not distinct but phases of the same policy.
He also lauded the ‘One District, One Product’ initiative, which he said represents the diversity of the country in a very “unique and tangible” way.
The External Affairs Minister also felicitated the ODOP winners at the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Utsav Celebration here in the national capital.
Addressing the event today, Jaishankar said, “Foreign Policy, Foreign Economic Policy, and Foreign Commerce Policy — they are all really, three phases of the same thing…Today, there are no two ministers who work more closely with each other than the commerce minister and the foreign minister”.
“The result of this, you can see in our exports. It is not just as if our exports are at the highest ever,” he added.
The union minister further emphasised that a lot of credit for India’s highest-ever export level goes to the Commerce Ministry and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
“I am into my fifth decade into government, but for the first time, I have seen a foreign minister and commerce minister, and the Prime Minister himself actually address all our commercial representatives abroad, all our ambassadors abroad to promote, our exports. So if today there is actually such a strong performance, I think a lot of the credit goes today to the commerce minister and the Commerce Ministry,” he further said.
Jaishankar added that ODOP played a crucial role in the process of getting “India ready for the world and world ready for India”.
“ODOP is an economic activity, it is livelihood, employment, tradition…It expresses the diversity of India in a very unique, tangible way…A product is linked to the place and tradition, this was the feeling with which we organised the G20,” Jaishankar said.
He added, “G20 is taking place for the last 15 years, but the way we organised it by taking it to 60 different cities, each and every state and union territory. This was because Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to present a total India picture in front of the world…The way G20 has helped in ODOP getting recognition across the world is something I appreciate…When I say that G20 was a way of getting India ready for the world and world ready for India, ODOP was one part of it”.
(With inputs from ANI)
