Free trade agreements cannot be signed in haste, says Piyush Goyal

India is in a positive momentum with respect to signing trade deals with the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Bangladesh, EU, Gulf Cooperation Council.

Even as India is gearing up to ink trade pacts with some countries over the next few months, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that free trade agreements (FTAs) cannot be signed in haste.

“Under the guidance of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi Ji, we go deep into FTAs so that they do not harm any established sector of India, India should also get benefits and there should be reciprocity. We should not reach a point where only our market is open (for other nations) and not the other way around,” Goyal told reporters on Wednesday.

“In the past, we have faced the consequences of signing an FTA in haste...that is the reason India opted out of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership),” he said.

Currently, India is in a positive momentum with respect to signing trade deals with the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Bangladesh, the European Union (EU), and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations.

The minister also said that FTAs will also help the textile sector in getting a level playing field as it faces unequal duties in some of these markets.