Page 12 - Free Trade Agreement

India, Peru to resume FTA discussions to promote commerce, investment

The official also said that Chile has also shown interest in a trade deal with India. Both countries had in 2005 also signed a preferential trade agreement

12th round of India, UK free trade agreement talks to begin from August 7

As India and the UK are close to concluding negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA), chief negotiators of both countries will hold the 12th round of talks from August 7 here, an official said. Both sides are looking at concluding the talks before the end of the year. The main issues which could come up for discussions in this round include investment treaty, reduction of duties on auto and whiskey and matters pertaining to services, the official said. The 11th round of talks was concluded last month. For that round, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal visited London and took stock of the negotiations. Out of the total 26 chapters in the FTA, 19 have been closed. Investment is being negotiated as a separate agreement (bilateral investment treaty) between India and the UK and it would be concluded simultaneously with the free trade agreement. In the rules of origin chapters, product specific rules are being negotiated whi

Hopeful of finalising certain FTAs in next few months: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said he is hopeful of India finalising certain free trade agreements (FTAs) in the next few months, which would help promote exports. India is in the final stages of concluding FTA negotiations with the UK. The country is also negotiating similar pacts with Canada and European Union (EU). "We can leverage the free trade agreements with the UAE and Australia and we are hopeful that in the next few months, we will finalise many more free trade agreements to help you grow your business with zero duty on finished leather products and footwear available for you to exploit bigger and better markets," Goyal said while addressing footwear industry representatives here. The minister also asked the industry to focus on quality and sustainable manufacturing processes to tap business opportunities in the developed world. The Indian footwear and leather industry is not only a major foreign exchange earner but being a labour-intensive secto

India, UK close to concluding FTA talks, working to iron out issues on IPRs

India and the UK are "very close" to concluding negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement as both sides are working to iron out differences on issues including investment treaty, intellectual property rights (IPRs) and rules of origin, a senior government official said on Friday. The official also said there is a broad consensus on matters related to auto and spirits, however "nothing is agreed till everything is agreed". The 11th round of talks was concluded recently. For that round, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal visited London and took stock of the negotiations. The official exuded confidence that the negotiations will be concluded this year. "We are very close and are trying to conclude the talks as early as possible," the official added. Out of the total 26 chapters in the FTA, 19 have been closed. "Remaining issues include IPRs, rules of origin and investment treaty," the official added. In the rules of origin chap

First year of FTA with UAE: India's fuel exports grow faster than non-fuel

The trade deal is expected to benefit almost 90 per cent of India's exports, in terms of value

Commerce ministry to increase bandwidth to negotiate free trade pacts

With a number of countries approaching India for negotiating bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) to boost economic ties, the commerce ministry is looking at ways to increase its bandwidth for undertaking these time and human resource consuming talks, a senior official said. The commerce ministry officials at present are negotiating several FTAs with countries including the UK, Canada and European Union. "Negotiations are really time consuming and energy consuming and human resource consuming. Therefore, we are trying to increase the bandwidth within the commerce department," the government official said. Indian trade service officers are expected to be engaged more in the negotiations of free trade agreements. Latin American countries such as Peru are also interested in doing an FTA with India and India is also looking deeply into that, the official said. South American trade bloc MERCOSUR is also keen to expand the scope of existing preferential trade agreements to an FTA. Ind

Hope India-Gulf Cooperation Council FTA becomes a reality: Official

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council have resumed talks for concluding a free trade agreement which is expected to bring new business opportunities for both sides, a top Indian official said on Wednesday as he expressed hope that the deal would soon become a reality. Secretary (Consular, Passport & Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs) in the Ministry of External Affairs Ausaf Sayeed also shared that India is in discussion with its bilateral partners with regard to alternate payment mechanisms like rupee trading and barter trading "especially under the new circumstances where most countries are facing challenges of foreign currency". GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The Arab region is the largest trading partner bloc of India with a trade exceeding USD 240 billion during financial year 2022-23. Of this, trade with GCC countries alone amounted to over USD 184 billion. The UAE remained India's third largest ...

Piyush Goyal to visit UK for FTA negotiations, review progress of TEPA

The India-UK bilateral trading relationship was worth Pound 34 billion in 2022, growing by Pound 10 billion ( Rs 102 crore) in one year

No deal for access to Britain's labour market: UK on India FTA talks

Britain launched trade talks with India in January last year, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stressed that he won't sacrifice quality for speed in negotiations

India should consider free trade agreement with Egypt, say exporters

India should consider negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with Egypt as the Mediterranean nation holds huge potential for the domestic industry in various sectors like agri products, steel items and light vehicles, according to exporters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Cairo for a two-day state visit at the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director General Ajay Sahai said that India and Egypt have historic trade relations, which are robust and fairly balanced. India's exports increased to USD 4.1 billion in 2022-23 from USD 3.74 billion in 2021-22. However, imports from that country declined to about USD 2 billion against USD 3.5 billion in 2021-22. Fertiliser, crude oil, chemicals, raw cotton, and raw hides are major import items from Egypt. The main export items include wheat, rice, cotton yarn, petroleum, meat, flat-rolled products, ferroalloys (related to iron) and light vehicles. "The prime minist

India, UK conclude another round of talks on free trade agreement: Official

Technical discussions were held across 10 policy areas in over 50 separate sessions, according to statement

India, UK seeking equal treatment for services sector cos under FTA

India and the UK are seeking equal treatment in each other's market for their respective companies engaged in the services sector under the proposed free trade agreement, which is under negotiations, a government official said. The two countries are looking at promoting trade in services through this agreement, negotiations for which was launched on January 13, 2021. As many as ten rounds of talks have been completed till June this year and both sides are aiming to conclude the negotiations at the earliest. In the services sector, the official said the UK is showing keen interest in areas such as financial sectors, while India is looking at areas such as education and movement of skilled professionals. Under the services chapter of the free trade agreement, there are no customs duty concessions given to each other. The two trading partners negotiate issues like giving national treatment to Indian and British companies in different sectors and ease norms to promote trade in service

India-UK FTA has to be win-win for both sides, says FICCI president

Free trade agreements (FTAs) need to ensure they provide a level playing field and the India-UK FTA, which recently completed its 10th round of negotiations, has to be a win-win scenario for both sides, the head of India's leading business chambers has said. Subhrakant Panda, President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), was in the UK this week for the FICCI Forum of Parliamentarians, a bipartisan initiative for political outreach. The delegation from India was briefed on areas of interest in the bilateral relationship over a series of discussions with businesses and parliamentarians. As far as Indian businesses are concerned, we are competitive, confident and looking to engage with the world, said Panda. I think what FTAs need to ensure is that they provide a level playing field and are rules-based. It's all about give and take. Clearly, both governments are engaged in intense discussions and 10 rounds have been completed, so I would look at it f

India is open to negotiate trade agreement with Africa: Piyush Goyal

India has expressed interest in negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with Africa with an aim to boost economic ties between the two regions. This was stated by commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal during his interaction with fifteen ambassadors from several countries of the Africa region here on Thursday. "India is open to FTA negotiations bilaterally or individually with African countries or Africa as a whole," he said. India would act as a trusted partner to expand trade, commerce, business, investment and opportunities with Africa, he said. In such agreements, two or more trading partners either significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on maximum number of goods traded between them. Besides, they ease norms for promoting trade in services and attract investments. The 15 ambassadors are from countries, including Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Republic of Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe. T

Modi, Sunak agree to work towards ambitious' FTA during talks in Japan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Sunday reviewed the progress of the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations and agreed for their trade teams to continue at pace towards an ambitious deal, Downing Street said. Modi and Sunak met on the sidelines of the summit of the G7 advanced economies here in Hiroshima. In their second in-person meeting since the G20 Summit in Indonesia last November, the two leaders are said to have discussed the deep ties shared between the nations. In relation to India's G20 presidency, Downing Street also indicated that the British Indian leader's first visit to India is expected to be for the G20 Summit in New Delhi later this year. The leaders reflected on the deep ties between the UK and India, rooted in our human connections, and the vital importance of democracy and fair and open trade, said a Downing Street spokesperson. "They discussed progress on a UK-India Free Trade Agreement. The leaders agreed that

Indo-Israel trade to touch $10 bn; FTA to strengthen cooperation: Officials

Indo-Israel trade will grow to USD 10 billion this year and a free trade agreement (FTA) is essential to strengthen the economic relations, visiting officials from the Jewish country said on Thursday. Direct flight connectivity will be established between more cities in India and Israel by the end of this year, they said. The country's Ambassador Naor Gilon said trade has grown by nearly 50 times since the establishment of full diplomatic ties between India and Israel in 1992. "We started at USD 200 million then and we are approaching USD 10 billion this year, Gilon said speaking at an India-Israel Business Summit here. The bilateral trade between the two countries grew to USD 8.09 billion, excluding defence procurements in the first nine months of FY23, up from USD 7.86 billion in FY22. Yael Ravia-Zadok, the head of the economic affairs division in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that while the trade has grown and the scope of opportunities is endless, the FTA can hel

Israel keen to finalise FTA with India: Foreign Minister Eli Cohen

Israel is keen to finalise an FTA with India as there is a huge scope of trade between the two nations, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has said, and expressed hope that the agreement will further strengthen bilateral economic ties. From a humble beginning of USD 200 million in bilateral trade (primarily in diamonds) in 1992 when full diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, merchandise trade has diversified and reached USD 7.86 billion (excluding defence) during the period 2021-2022. In addition, bilateral trade in services in 2021 was USD 1.1 billion and in FY 2022-23, bilateral merchandise trade from April to December 2022 stood at USD 8.09 billion (excluding defence). "The scope for trade opportunities between our countries is huge and there is a strong desire to finalise an FTA that hopefully will further strengthen our economic ties...I believe the scope of the FTA is far larger than trade numbers. We should discuss it with the vision of bilateral relations

What critics of the govt miss: Not much is lost if the PLI scheme fails

Seeking a repeat of the East Asian model of merchandise export-led growth is a chimera. For India, services drive export growth, writes T N Ninan

UK's FTA negotiator Harjinder appointed new Trade Commissioner to India

Harjinder Kang, Britain's Chief Negotiator for the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) was on Wednesday named as the country's new Trade Commissioner to South Asia and Deputy High Commissioner for Western India. Kang, who will succeed Alan Gemmell as Deputy High Commissioner, will play a pivotal role in supporting the implementation of the FTA expected to bring huge opportunities for UK businesses, according to the British government. India and the UK have held nine rounds of discussions since the FTA talks began over a year ago in January 2022, with a goal towards a comprehensive pact that is expected to significantly enhance the bilateral trading relationship worth an estimated GBP 34 billion last year. I am delighted to welcome Harjinder to this role. He has been an integral part of our India trade deal negotiating team, and I'm confident he will use that experience to build on our outstanding track record on trade in South Asia, expanding opportunities for British businesses in

EFTA, India aim at building on existing work: Helene Budliger Artieda

EFTA received this proposal from India with an open and positive mind, says Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs Helene Budliger Artieda