TEA urges PM to expedite CEPA with Canada

Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conclude the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Canada during his visit, starting April 14.
During his three-day visit on the third and final leg of tour, Modi is expected to have discussions with Canadian Government on various issues including investment and also enhancement of the trade between both countries, A Shaktivel, president, TEA said in a statement here.
India-Canada Foreign Trade Agreement has entered into ninth round of negotiations toward a India-Canada CEPA, which was held in Delhi on March 19 and 20 and the progress has been made in all agreed areas of the negotiations, he said.

Considering this, Shaktivel made an appeal to Modi to conclude the CEPA during his visit and said that the total knitwear garments exports from India to Canada in 2013-14 was Rs 680 crore and in the knitwear exports ranking Canada stands at 11th position.
Sakthivel claimed that the same ranking has been witnessed in the first nine months of this financial year also with a recorded value of Rs 502 Crore.
Canada had withdrawn the entitlement to the benefit of the General Preferential Tariff to 72 countries including India effective from January 2015 and the decision was taken after these countries were classified as "high income" or "upper middle income" countries by World bank for two consecutive years or, have had a share of equal to or greater than one percent of World exports for two consecutive years, he said.

Sakthivel said after imposition of normal customs duty about 20 per cent for our knitwear garments in Canada, India has lost the competitiveness, as the competing countries continued to enjoy the lower duty.

"The concern is the promising market will go out of reach for knitwear garment exports", he said.
Competing countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia were entitled to the least developed countries tariff treatment while Pakistan and Vietnam also continue to get benefit under GPT even after January.
It is to be noted that Vietnam which was exporting less than our exports in 2009 has now increased their exports by two times of our exports and showing a steady growth rate, whereas at the same time, Indian exports have come down by 31 per cent, Shaktivel claimed.