Add trade to the external affairs ministry, says Amitabh Mattoo

The Indian Foreign Service was created on the eve of India's independence. Its first officers, drawn from the Indian Civil Service, were rich in experience and had served in various departments and in different parts of India.

However, the world is a different place now and the nature of issues that the foreign service has to deal with are more complex and nuanced. In an increasingly globalized world where economic and trade negotiations constitute the bulk of the functions that the officials have to undertake, apart from their regular diplomatic and consular activities, it makes sense to restructure the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MEA&FT).

In doing so, India can follow the precedent of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) which manages the government's foreign relations and trade policies. The department is headed by a Secretary who reports to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Trade and Investment.

The department provides foreign, trade and development policy advice to the government and works with other government agencies to ensure that Australia's pursuit of its global, regional and bilateral interests is coordinated effectively.  

Historically, the Department of Trade and Customs and the Department of External Affairs were among the first seven Commonwealth Departments established at Federation in 1901.

However, in order to meet the challenges of an increasingly interdependent world, where ministries cannot afford to work in an insulated environment, the two departments were amalgamated in 1987 by the Hawke Labor government.

Even today, the IFS has some of the most talented and hard-working diplomats of any country in the world, but they are overstretched, too often lacking the expertise needed to negotiate effectively on complex contemporary issues and confined in protocol silos which are out of tune with contemporary realities.  The growing global emphasis on economics and trade must be reflected in the structure and nomenclature of the MEA.

Therefore, a dedicated trade expert should be attached to most Indian missions. India's foreign policy must be seen as a shared partnership across departments within the government of India, and academia and think tanks outside the traditional corridors of power.

The success of democracies is often measured by the evolution of their institutions. Taking a leaf out of Australia's book and restructuring the MEA on the lines of DFAT will not only reinvigorate the manner in which India conducts its foreign policy but will also be a be seen as a mature attempt to recalibrate its priorities by a country desirous of becoming a great power.

Amitabh Mattoo is Director, Australia India Institute and Professor of International Relations at the University of Melbourne.