Informist, Tuesday, Dec 6, 2022
By Krity Ambey
NEW DELHI – The government is planning to launch negotiation for a free-trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council by Apr-Jun, a senior commerce ministry official said.
“Both sides are currently involved in the scoping process for the trade deal,” the official told Informist. “It is lengthy, will require several back and forth exchanges. Also, there are six other nations involved other than India. But we are aiming for first quarter (Apr-Jun) of the next year.”
Scoping process is the first step towards a trade deal where both sides select terms of reference that they want to discuss for the deal.
In November, the governments of India and countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council decided to resume negotiation for a free-trade agreement which has been halted since 2008.
About 17 years ago, India and countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council signed a framework agreement to look into the possibilities of signing a free-trade agreement. Both sides held two rounds of negotiation in 2006 and 2008 but halted it when the Gulf Cooperation Council deferred its discussions for trade deal with all the countries.
“We wanted to launch the negotiations in November itself but the timeline got delayed as both sides are simultaneously occupied with FTA (free trade agreement) discussions with other countries,” the official said.
India is currently in negotiations with the UK, European Union, and Australia for a comprehensive trade agreement. On other hand, the Gulf Cooperation Council is also in talks with China, Pakistan and the UK for a free-trade agreement, he said.
The Gulf Cooperation Council is India’s largest trading partner bloc with bilateral trade of over $154 bln in 2021-22 (Apr-Mar), as per the government data. They contribute almost 35% to India’s oil imports and 70% of gas imports.
The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
India had already signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the United Arab Emirates in February.
“We will use the India-UAE FTA sa a template for the trade deal with GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) as GCC nations and UAE have oil-driven economy,” the official said.
The India-UAE comprehensive economic partnership agreement allows duty-free market access to Indian exporters from various sectors, including textiles, agriculture, gem and jewellery and dry fruits. End
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
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