India and Oman will start talks from Monday to sort out remaining irritants and finalise the date for making their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) operational, an official has said. Earlier, both sides were aiming for June 1 for the Entry into Force of CEPA that was signed on 18th December last year.
Also on Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile Francisco Perez Mackenna will hold discussions in New Delhi on trade and related matters as both sides are actively working on concluding negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In Chile international trade negotiations are led by an office under the foreign ministry and Mackenna arrived in New Delhi on Sunday.
Oman Milestone
The negotiations on CEPA between India and Oman that started in November 2023 and concluded in December 2025 with the signing of the agreement. The agreement was ratified by Oman through a Royal decree in February.
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Foreign Minister and Deputy Trade Minister Paula Estevez Weinstein of Chile are also being accompanied by a business delegation. With Chile negotiations on CEPA were launched on April 1, 2025 and so far four rounds of negotiations have been held. The last round of talks were held between December 1-5 2025.
The CEPA opens up zero-duty access on 98.08% of tariff lines, covering 99.38% of India’s exports to Oman. In return, India will open up 77% of its tariff lines for Oman that will cover 94% of its total exports to India. While on most products the tariffs will straight away drop in zero, in petrochemicals the reduction will be in a phased manner.
Critical Minerals Pivot
While being a regular trade agreement on most fronts, the FTA with Chile also differs from them as both sides have decided to include a chapter on critical minerals in the agreement. With Chile, India has already developed a bilateral mechanism on critical minerals. Chile has vast reserves of critical minerals and is a world leader in copper. It also has significant lithium, silver, and molybdenum deposits.
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The CEPA with Chile aims to build upon the existing Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between the two nations and seeks to encompass a broader range of sectors, including digital services, investment promotion and cooperation, MSME and critical minerals.
Similar to the CEPA with Chile that includes a chapter on critical minerals, another one is being negotiated with Peru, With Peru 11 rounds of talks have been held since the launch of negotiations in 2017. The last round of talks were held from 3-5 November 2025, Officials expect that the next round of talks with Peru would take time as the country is in midst of elections.
TOPICSFTAsThis article was first uploaded on May ten, twenty twenty-six, at thirty-seven minutes past seven in the evening.