India, Chile Sign Terms Of Reference For FTA
The India-Chile FTA is dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and is set for the first round of negotiations scheduled for May 26-30, 2025 in New Delhi.
India and Chile late on Thursday signed the Terms of Reference for a free trade agreement, as the former continues to iron out trade pacts in a bid to boost exports as the next lever of economic growth.
The India-Chile FTA is dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and is set for the first round of negotiations scheduled for May 26-30, 2025 in New Delhi.
India-Chile already have a Preferential Trade Agreement in place, which was signed in 2006, and the CEPA will build upon the existing partnership. An expanded PTA was subsequently signed in September 2016 and became effective from May 16, 2017, taking tariff lines covered from 178 to 1,000.
In April 2019, both countries agreed to pursue a further expansion of the PTA, with three rounds of negotiations between the years during 2019-2021.
According to a government statement, digital services, investment promotion and cooperation, MSME, and critical minerals are among areas of focus between the two countries.
In April, Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font had visited India, and jointly announced with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the countries will resume negotiations for a trade deal.
India is seeing Chile as a "gateway to Antarctica" and major areas of focus will be around critical minerals, agriculture, digital public infrastructure, railways and space, Modi had said.
In March, speaking at the 10th CII India-Latin America Caribbean Conclave, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had underscored the need for expedited decision-making with regards to negotiations with Latin American countries.
"Agreements that are long drawn, negotiated over 10-20 rounds, can never get fructified into solid partnerships," he had remarked. India currently enjoys a $45 billion bilateral trade relationship with Latin America, but Goyal had added that this is far from its potential. He outlined an ambitious vision to push trade volumes to $100-$200 billion in the coming years, highlighting opportunities in critical minerals, services, tourism, horticulture, and gems and jewellery.
