Page 11 - Fta

May retaliate if Asean non-trade barriers persist, says Piyush Goyal

As for the fast-growing quick commerce segment, Goyal said that while the government had not studied potential violations, the industry department would examine their compliance with the law

Dairy sensitive sector, no plans to give duty concessions under FTA: Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said dairy is a sensitive sector in India as it involves livelihood issues of small farmers and there are no plans to give duty concessions under any Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in this area. He said India has not given any duty concessions in the dairy sector even to Switzerland and Norway under the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) trade pact, which was signed in March. With Australia also, he said, the sector was discussed but India clearly conveyed the sensitivities involved in this area. "Our average holding with the farmer is small. It is 2-3 acre farm with 3-4 livestock whereas Australia's farm and dairy farms are both very large and it would be near impossible for these large and small farms to compete with each other on a common footing. "We had discussed this issue even three years ago and on earlier occasions also, and dairy is such a sensitive sector that in any of our FTAs across the world, we have not been a

Dairy sensitive sector; no plans to open up in any FTAs: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said dairy is a sensitive sector in India as it involves livelihood issues of small farmers and there are no plans at all to give any kind of duty concessions under any Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in this area. He said that India has not given any duty concessions in the dairy sector even to Switzerland and Norway under the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) trade pact, which was signed in March. With Australia also, he said, that the sector was discussed but India clearly conveyed the sensitivities involved in this area. "Our average holding with the farmer is small. It is 2-3 acre farm with 3-4 live stocks whereas Australia's farm and their dairy farms are both very large and it would be near impossible for these large and small farms to compete with each other on a common footing. "We had discussed this issue even three years ago and on earlier occasions also and the dairy is such a sensitive sector that in any of our

India-Asean FTA talks: Goyal calls for addressing local industry's concerns

India on Friday called for addressing the concerns of its domestic industries affected by the existing free trade agreement (FTA) with the 10-nation bloc ASEAN as the two regions negotiate a review of the pact. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has also emphasized the need to rectify the inequitable tariff liberalization under the agreement. Goyal said this during the stock-taking exercise of the progress of review talks for the India-ASEAN free trade agreement in goods (AITIGA) in Laos. All the ministers took note of the progress in negotiations for the review of the agreement. "Minister Goyal in his intervention stressed the need for addressing injury to industries from the existing FTA and the inequitable tariff liberalisation during the review. He also cited India's ongoing efforts of integrating with other economies through FTAs and highlighted the urgency in upgrading AITIGA which otherwise may lead to diversion of bilateral trade to other regions, the commerce ...

India, UK may hold next round of talks on proposed trade agreement in Oct

India and the UK are expected to hold the next round of talks for a proposed free trade agreement in October to resolve the pending issues and close the negotiations, a senior official said on Tuesday. Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said the officials of the UK are briefing their new ministers about the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). The two sides have already taken stock of the progress of talks at secretary and minister levels. "The briefings are going on in the UK...they are briefing their new ministers and based on that, the negotiations will start. We are hoping that in October, the negotiations should resume," Barthwal told reporters here. He also said India is progressing on all FTAs, but there are certain things which are not in control of anyone. The India-UK talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022. The 14th round of talks stalled as the two nations stepped into their general election cycles. Due to the elections in India and Britain, both the countries

India-UK FTA talks delayed as new British govt yet to form negotiation team

The FTA talks have yet to resume because the UK has not yet appointed its negotiating team, but the process is likely to be finalised soon

India-Oman free trade pact talks at advanced stage, says Ambassador Narang

Discussions for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Oman are at an advanced stage and both sides hope to conclude the pact early, Indian Ambassador to Oman Amit Narang said on Tuesday. The pact will give a significant push to bilateral trade and investment ties between the two countries, he said. The pact, officially known as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), is expected to boost Indian exports to the west Asian country by eliminating duties, especially on petroleum products, textiles, electronics, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and iron and steel. "Discussions for a bilateral CEPA with Oman are at an advanced stage. We hope to conclude these discussions early and once this is done, this will be a significant push to bilateral, not just trade, but also bilateral investment ties," Narang said. Addressing an event organised by Ficci here, the Indian Ambassador to Oman also highlighted the significant potential for enhancing direct shipping li

India, Aus to resume comprehensive FTA talks on Monday; progress expected

Chief negotiators of India and Australia will begin the next round of talks for the comprehensive free trade agreement from tomorrow in Sydney, where both sides are likely to close negotiations on several chapters of the pact, an official said. Both countries have already implemented an interim pact and are in discussions to expand its scope under the CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement). The interim pact - Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) - came into force in December 2022. The tenth round of negotiations is scheduled from August 19-22 in Sydney. "Out of the total 19 areas of the agreement, we have completed our discussions on four chapters, and we are in very advanced stages in a few others. We hope that in this round, we should be able to close altogether, maybe more than 10 chapters," the commerce ministry official said. In this round, the official said that both countries are likely to get into market access discussions in goods and services. Th

Bimstec members must consider phase-wise FTA for faster implementation: CII

The study also said that Bimstec countries have built a range of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements

India free-trade agreement with Oman hits market-access roadblock

Differences over access to petrochemical products major bone of contention

Goyal says industry's demand for protection may derail UK, EU FTA talks

India and the UK have been negotiating a trade agreement for over two-and-a-half years

FTA talks with Japan, Korea, Asean moving slow, India still pursuing: Goyal

The negotiations to review the free trade agreements (FTAs) implemented with Japan, Korea, and Asean are moving slow but India is pursuing those talks, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. He said these agreements were signed and implemented during the UPA regime. These pacts are hurting the domestic industry and almost all firms stated that they are "unfair" agreements, Goyal said. "I am helpless as those agreements (came into effect) before we came to power. I am helpless to change it until we close the negotiations. "We are under re-negotiations but obviously when they (Japan, Korea, Asean) realise that the Congress's agreement was better for them (Japan, Korea, Asean), they are happier to keep that rather than change the agreements... they are going very slow, (but) we are also pursuing," he said while speaking at a CII programme on Viksit Bharat. Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is one of the major trade partners of India, with a share of

India-UK FTA: UKIBC chief Mccole hopeful of signing some deal quickly

Reiterating the UK Foreign Secretary's statement, he noted that David Lammy sees FTA as a "floor" for both countries' trade and investment relationship

India-UK unveil futuristic Technology Security Initiative; to seal FTA soon

India and the UK on Wednesday firmed up a landmark technology security initiative that sets out a bold new approach for collaboration in a range of "priority" sectors including telecom, critical minerals, semiconductors and artificial intelligence, with a broader aim to elevate their strategic partnership to the next level. The decision on the UK-India Technology Security Initiative was made public following wide-ranging talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his visiting British counterpart David Lammy. In the discussions, both sides appreciated the "substantial" progress made in the India-UK FTA negotiations and looked forward to its "early conclusion" to achieve a mutually beneficial deal, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. It is learnt that the Indian side, during the talks, flagged its concerns over activities of pro-Khalistan elements in the UK while the British side raised the issue of Christian Michel, the key accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP ..

India-UK FTA negotiations floor not ceiling of ambitions: David Lammy

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Wednesday began a two-day visit to India to galvanise negotiations for an ambitious Free Trade Agreement and reset the overall bilateral partnership in crucial areas such as clean energy, new technologies and security. As he embarked on the high-profile trip, Lammy described the negotiations for the trade deal as the floor and not the ceiling of the ambitions to unlock shared potential and deliver growth. The British foreign secretary's visit to New Delhi is the first high-level engagement between India and the UK after Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government came to power on July 5. "India is the emerging superpower of the 21st century, the largest country in the world with 1.4 billion people and one of the fastest growing economies in the world," Lammy said. "Our Free Trade Agreement negotiations is the floor not the ceiling of our ambitions to unlock our shared potential and deliver growth, from Bengaluru to Birmingham," he said.

India FTA talks set to be revived with first major UK ministerial visit

The renewed parameters of the India-UK free trade agreement negotiations are set to be defined this week as UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is expected in India on Tuesday, the first high-profile visit under the newly elected Labour government in Britain. The free trade agreement (FTA) talks began in January 2022, under the then Conservative government, with a target to significantly boost the GBP 38.1 billion a year bilateral trading partnership but hit a block in the fourteenth round of negotiations to make way for general elections in both countries. A report in The Daily Telegraph' on Sunday quotes a New Delhi source to claim the Indian side would seek clarity on whether the Labour government intends to pick things up from where they were left off or start afresh in some way. India is keen to resume talks on a positive note, but the date needs clarity, the source told the newspaper. The trade deal was at the final stage in the previous government, and we want to see whether th

Local currency trade, exports, FTA will boost India-Russia commerce: GTRI

Steps such as increasing exports, making local currency trading workable and a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union will help boost trade between India and Russia, think tank GTRI said on Thursday. India should not worry over the trade deficit, as it is getting crude petroleum oil at cheaper than market rates from Russia and it is also cutting India's overall oil import bill, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. Since the Ukraine war began in February 2022 and the US imposed sanctions on Russia, the trade relationship between India and Russia has shifted significantly. There has been a sharp increase in imports from Russia, resulting in a notable trade imbalance. Exports during the financial year 2020-21 and 2023-24 grew by 59 per cent, while imports surged by about 8,300 per cent, the report said, adding the trade deficit rose from USD 2.8 billion before the war in 2020-21 to USD 57.2 billion at present. It said that the import surge is solely due to

'India, Eurasian Economic Union finalizing broad contours for proposed FTA'

India and the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union bloc are working to finalise broad contours and their terms of reference on a proposed free trade agreement, an official said. The five members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Anant Swarup said that on the EEU proposed free trade agreement (FTA), chief negotiators of both sides have already met and broad contours are being finalised. "Scope and the ToRs (terms of reference) of the proposed free trade agreement are under stakeholder consultation internally in India and same with Russia and soon it will be exchanged so that the next steps can take place," he told reporters here. On the timeline for both sides to formally launch negotiations for the pact, he said that unless there is an understanding on the ToR, the launch date is premature to be decided. In such agreements, two or more trading partners either eliminate or

'Commerce ministry in talks with South Korea to upgrade existing FTA'

With talks to upgrade the existing free trade agreement (FTA) moving forward between India and Korea, the department of commerce is engaging with different ministries, including heavy industries, steel, and chemicals, to prepare the offer list, an official said. Preparation of the list is part of the negotiations, which are underway, for the upgrade of the existing FTA between the two countries, dubbed as comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). The agreement was operationalised in January 2010. So far, 10 rounds of talks have been concluded. The official said both sides have exchanged the request list and "are working on the offer list" and for that the commerce ministry is holding discussions with different ministries, including steel, heavy industries, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals. India has sought greater market access for certain products such as steel, rice, and shrimp from South Korea with a view to boost exports of these goods, the official added. Ind

Gold, silver import from UAE surges 210%, need duty revision in FTA: GTRI

India's gold and silver imports from its free trade agreement (FTA) partner UAE have skyrocketed 210 per cent to USD 10.7 billion in 2023-24 and there is a need to potentially revise the concessional customs duty rates under the pact to mitigate the arbitrage driving this surge, a report said on Monday. Economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said this sharp rise in gold and silver imports is primarily driven by import duty concessions granted by India to the UAE under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). India allows 7 per cent tariffs or customs duty concessions on import of unlimited quantities of silver and a 1 per cent concession on 160 metric tonnes of gold. CEPA was signed in February 2022 and implemented in May 2022. Additionally, India facilitates gold and silver imports by allowing private firms to import from the UAE through the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) in Gift City. Previously, only authorised agencies