Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal confirmed that the India-Peru free trade agreement is unlikely to conclude soon due to market access issues.
Negotiations for the proposed trade pact between India and Peru originally commenced in 2017.
An Indian delegation is scheduled to travel to Canada to continue bilateral free trade agreement negotiations.
Negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement between India and Peru are unlikely to conclude shortly. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal confirmed the delay on Saturday due to issues regarding market access for specific products.
"There are certain concerns. There are many products where we cannot offer them market access. I do not see Peru FTA happening very soon," Goyal said.
Goyal made these remarks on the sidelines of the 17th Toy Biz International B2B Exhibition in New Delhi. Discussions on the proposed India-Peru pact began in 2017.
Canada Trade Talks
Talks for a separate agreement with Canada present a different trajectory. A team of Indian officials will travel to Canada on Monday for the next round of free trade negotiations.
"Canada FTA is progressing well ..our team is going on Monday for next round of negotiations. We are trying that we should conclude it in the next six months or so," Goyal said.
Brussels TTC Mission
Goyal will travel to Brussels on July 13 for the India-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will accompany the commerce minister. Vaishnaw currently manages the Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and IT ministries.
"Our effort is that it becomes a supplement to the FTA which we have finalized and will help us to smoothen the edges and make it easier to implement the FTA going forward," Goyal said.
