Trade Agreements

India and Australia have agreed to conclude the negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement "as soon as possible" as there is huge potential to enhance bilateral commerce in the next five years, according to a joint statement issued on Sunday. The statement was released after the meeting of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Australia's Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell here on March 11. Both countries have already implemented an economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA) in December 2022 and are now negotiating to widen the scope of that pact into a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA). "Ministers look forward to concluding CECA as soon as possible," the statement said. The CECA will create new employment opportunities, raise living standards and improve the general welfare in both countries, it added. The ministers also highlighted the importance of a smooth and timely clean energy transition as both countries work towards ...

The MoUs were signed in sports and for audio-visual co-production, while terms of reference for solar taskforce were also exchanged between India and Australia

They can utilise opportunities for greater market access generated by free trade agreements

India and Iceland Monday reviewed the status of ties, including trade and investments and the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) negotiations. India and Iceland held their third Foreign Office Consultations with the Indian side led by Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, and the Iceland side led by Martin Eyjlfsson, Permanent Secretary of State in Iceland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the talks, both sides comprehensively reviewed the status of relations in all fields, including political, trade and investments, India-EFTA-TEPA negotiations, fisheries, geothermal cooperation, capacity building, cultural relations and people-to-people contacts, a Ministry of External Affairs statement said. Detailed discussions were held on the future direction of cooperation, including in the multilateral fora, particularly the UN, it said. EFTA is limited to four countries - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The India-EFTA Tra

Announcement of measures like quick refund of duties, resolving inverted duty issues and bringing exports through post and courier at par with standard customs clearances in the forthcoming Budget

India gets preferential access to all products it exports to Australia

The implementation of the interim trade pact, also known as Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) has the potential to double the bilateral trade between the two countries to $50 billion

Various export promotion councils (EPCs) on Wednesday lauded the trade agreements signed by India with the UAE and Australia, saying the pacts will help the country in boosting exports by granting preferential access to those markets for Indian products. Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) said that the country has benefited from preferential market access provided by the UAE on over 97 per cent of its tariff lines which account for 99 per cent of Indian exports to the region in value terms. Eastern regional chairman of EEPC, B D Agarwal, said at an interactive session here that this trend has emerged after signing of the IndiaUAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which became effective from May one, 2022. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which will come into force from December 29, is expected to create 10 lakh jobs, and raise Indian merchandise exports to Australia by USD 10 billion, he said. According to him, the ECT

Sixth round of negotiations begins in New Delhi after a four-month hiatus

India's balance of trade has worsened with countries with which it has signed free trade agreements

Launch date of negotiation not divulged

There is a need to go beyond the usual buyer-seller meets and get more aggressive towards their ways to sell products in the Australian market, people aware of the matter told Business Standard

The draft has also proposed to prohibit pre-grant oppositions, which means that India will not be able to stop challenges to weak/invalid patents until after they have been granted

Morocco and Saudi Arabia have pledged to boost trade and economic cooperation at a bilateral economic forum held in Casablanca, the commercial hub city of Morocco

Trade ministers of India and 10-nation bloc ASEAN have endorsed the scope of review of the trade pact to make the agreement more industry friendly, the commerce ministry said on Friday. The issue was discussed during the 19th ASEAN-India Economic Ministers' meeting in Siem Reap City, Cambodia. The review would make the agreement modern with contemporary trade facilitative practices, and streamlined customs and regulatory procedures. "The ministers endorsed the scope of the review of the ASEAN-India trade in goods agreement to make it more user-friendly, simple, and trade facilitative for businesses, as well as responsive to the current global and regional challenges including supply chain disruptions,' it said. The ministers also activated a joint committee to undertake the review of the agreement expeditiously. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India trade in goods agreement was signed on August 13, 2009 and came into force on January 1, 2010. Ten ASEAN countrie

'New transformative approach' needed to produce green steel, says JSW Steel leader Sajjan Jindal

India has recently signed two trade agreements with the UAE and Australia and is hopeful of concluding the negotiations for two more such pacts by the end of this year, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said. Negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK is expected to be concluded this month, while talks with Canada for a deal are progressing at a rapid pace. Goyal said two FTAs have already been finalised this year and he is hoping for the conclusion of at least two more by the end of this year. He was addressing an event hosted by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum here. Under a free trade agreement, two trading partners reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. Besides, they liberalise norms to enhance trade in services and boost investments. He also said both the governments of India and the US desire to strengthen economic relations and strategic partnership, adding that the strong bond with the peo

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Friday

Turkey and the UAE pledged to boost their cooperation in a wide range of fields by increasing mutual investment opportunities

In return, New Delhi is offering import duty concession on edible oil