NEW DELHI: More and more developed countries are lining up to have free trade talks with India, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textile Piyush Goyal said in a media interaction in Rajkot on Saturday.
According to Piyush Goyal, while free trade talks with the UK and Canada are in an advanced stage, the government is also negotiating with the 27-nation European Union. He informed me that ministers of four EFTA countries -- Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – are coming to meet him in Delhi on 26 April.
“The 6-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are also talking with the government to try and launch the free-trade talks,” he said. Goyal was interacting with the media after the Textiles Conclave during Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam in Rajkot on Saturday.
Responding to a query on how FTAs would help textile exporters, the minister said, “India was a big exporter of textiles but as the country grew and it became a developing country from a less developing country, we lost the benefit of duty-free exports in many developed countries and our products started attracting duties in those countries. Compared to that, Bangladesh, which continues to remain a less developing country, so they have access to those developed countries duty free.”
Goyal said that recognising these challenges, the government started free-trade talks with many developed countries. Last year India finalised two FTAs – one with Australia and another with the UAE.
Under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' Initiative, the Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam is being conducted in Gujarat from 17 -30 April 2023 to celebrate the cultural links between Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Goyal said that the two states traditionally have been textile manufacturing hubs, and with the opening up of PM Mitra Textile Parks in both states stand to gain from FDI and creation of world-class infrastructure.