A turf war between the ministry of external affairs and the commerce ministry has spilled out into the open over responsibility for economic diplomacy. Despite being invited, officers of the commerce ministry stayed away from the first meeting of the advisory council on world trade, set up by the external affairs ministry, held on Tuesday.
This move came within weeks of a simmering dispute between the MEA and the commerce ministry on the appointment of the chief negotiator to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which was settled after the intervention of the Prime Minister himself. An IAS officer from the commerce ministry was appointed to the post after commerce minister Murasoli Maran wrote to the PM arguing that WTO issues were part of the turf of the commerce ministry.
M Chandrashekhar is slated to join after the Doha ministerial round.
The MEA had argued that foreign service officer Hardeep Puri, currently deputy high commissioner in London and formerly member of several committees in GATT, including one on steel, should be appointed to the post, considering that economic diplomacy is legitimately part of the MEA
