India needs capacity to deal with non-trade issues in FTA talks: Barthwal

India needs to develop capacity to deal with non-trade issues during free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has said.

He said that non-trade issues have increasingly been emerging in trade negotiations.

Barthawal was speaking at a function of the Centre for Trade and Investment Law (CTIL) last week.

"The secretary observed that non-trade issues have increasingly been emerging in trade negotiations, raising the need for cross-disciplinary capacity building in FTA negotiations for India and other developing countries," the commerce ministry said.

It added that the Centre is aiming to create a dedicated pool of legal experts who could provide technical inputs for enhancing India's participation in international trade and investment negotiations and dispute settlement.

It is also aiming to become a thought leader in the various domains of international economic law such as WTO (World Trade Organisation) law, international investment law and legal is