NEW DELHI: Negotiations between India and the United Kingdom for the proposed free trade agreement are at an advanced stage, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said Thursday adding that the deliberations are taking time as India wants to protect its interest.
“India should commercially gain out of it and we should be able to safeguard the interest of our farmers, production linked incentive scheme goods. So, we are there to see the deal is a fair deal,” Barhtwal said briefing the media.
Barthwal refused to put a timeline for the conclusion of trade talks between both the countries. Notably, the 14th round of talks between India and UK began started on January 10 this year. Meanwhile, commerce ministry officials said the seventh round of talks on India- European Union FTA would take place next week in Delhi from February 19 to 23.
In addition, with regard to India-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), Rajesh Agrawal, Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry mentioned that the process of reviewing and refining the text related to clean and fair economy agreements is currently in progress.
The supply chain resilience pact is set to be enforced starting February 24 this year. Besides this, India and Peru are also in talks for a trade agreement and the next round of negotiations is expected to take place from April.
“The sixth round of India -Peru negotiations for a Trade Agreement was held from February 12 to 14, 2024, in Lima, Peru, to continue the work that started in 2017 when the negotiation process was formally announced,” commerce ministry said.
7th round of talks on India-EU FTA next week
Commerce ministry officials said the seventh round of talks on India- European Union FTA would take place next week in Delhi from February 19 to 23. In addition, with regard to India-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), Rajesh Agrawal, Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry mentioned that the process of reviewing and refining the text related to clean and fair economy agreements is currently in progress