‘India focusing on core trade issues in FTAs’

New Delhi: India is focusing on core trade issues such as import duty and non-tariff barriers in the proposed free trade agreements (FTAs) for faster outcomes from these negotiations, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Wednesday.

He said this approach is important as sometimes it takes “so much time” to conclude negotiations for these agreements and because of that businesses lose interests.

“...the experience has been that when we look at these free trade agreements, sometimes they are so much time taking that people lose interest, the businesses lose interest.

“So we are also reviewing some of these issues in the department (of commerce) as well, as we are talking to our partners who are doing FTAs with us that why can’t we first look at the core trade issues, and even if it is early tranche, or even if it is first phase of that comprehensive agreement, but let there be some kind of outcome which should come out of these negotiations. So we are taking that approach, that let us first focus on the core trade issues,” Barthwal said at CII’s India-LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) Business Conclave here.

The secretary said that the core trade issues are tariffs, non-tariff barriers, SPS (sanitary and phyto-sanitary) barriers, and regulatory factors.

He added that there is a need for India and the LAC region to follow this approach.

“Look at the core trade issues with you, and start working in that direction. I think that is going to be a great way forward by which we will be able to achieve many things, and the businesses will be able to see that the outcomes are very, very fast,” Barthwal said.

He added that the multi-sectoral approach, which India is talking to the US with under the proposed bilateral trade agreement is also important.

In this approach, “we look at the sectors of mutual advantage, of mutual benefit”, he said.

India is negotiating trade agreements with MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay), Chile and Peru.

“We are also thinking of how to look at this (LAC) region in terms of looking the impediments, whether it is non-tariff barriers, whether it is tariff barriers or the regulations, to see that trade grows between these two regions,” he said, adding there is a target to double two-way commerce from USD 50 billion to USD 100 billion in the coming years.

The secretary said that huge potential is there to boost trade between the two regions.