The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between India and UK will be operationalised in the next 30-45 days and by the end of this month the Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand will be signed, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday.
During his visit to Yaounde, Cameroon for 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the minister met UK Secretary of State for Trade and Business Peter Kyle and Minister of State for Trade Policy Chris Byrant.
60-Day Roadmap
“We have agreed that businesses on both sides are very excited about the expanded opportunities, and we are also looking at a possible entry into force over the next 30 to 45 days,” Goyal said. The agreement was signed in July last year and is undergoing ratification process.
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He said Minister of Trade and Investment of New Zealand Todd McClay would be coming to India in the fourth week of April when “we plan to sign the FTA”. India and New Zealand had completed negotiations on their FTA in December last year after nine months of negotiations.
From Oman to Latin America
With Oman also the possibility of operationalising the FTA by May was discussed. The CEPA with Oman was finalised by December last year,
On the sidelines of the WTO meeting, meetings were also held with ministers from Chile and Peru. “The commitment to fast-track the ongoing FTA negotiation and conclude it in the next few months was indicated by Chile,” Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said.
“The negotiations with Peru are stuck due to mismatch of aspirations and the chief negotiators will work towards working out an informal package first, which will be finalized, and then the negotiations will resume to take it to a finality,” Agrawal said.
India-Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations were launched on 1st April 2025.Four rounds of negotiations have been held so far. India – Peru FTA negotiations commenced in 2017 and till date, 9 rounds of negotiations have been held.
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Goyal also had a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira who also looks after trade. “We have tasked our teams to speed up discussions on expanding the preferential trade agreement between Mercosur and India.”
The South Africa Customs Union – comprising Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa – Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) negotiations would start in the next few months because they would like to have a PTA package within this calendar year, if possible, Agrawal said.
TOPICSPiyush GoyalThis article was first uploaded on April two, twenty twenty-six, at twenty-nine minutes past nine in the night.