2024 Year End Review for Department of Commerce
India signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement with European Free
Trade Association
India-European Union Free Trade Agreement negotiations re-launched
Following are the
important achievements and milestones of
the Department of Commerce in the year 2024:
Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) negotiations
India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed the
Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on 10 March 2024. EFTA
countries comprise of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway & Liechtenstein. The
TEPA is under the ratification process in the national parliament or
legislature of each EFTA country. TEPA marks India's first FTA with an
important economic bloc in Europe. Under TEPA, EFTA has committed to promote
foreign direct investments by USD 100 billion in India in the next 15 years,
and to facilitate the generation of 1 million direct employment in India,
through such investments. TEPA is expected to give impetus to "Make in
India" and Atmanirbhar Bharat by encouraging domestic manufacturing.
India-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations
were formally re-launched on 17 June 2022 as follow up of India-EU Leaders
announcement in Porto on 8th May 2021. Negotiations cover 23
policy areas/chapters. Nine Rounds of negotiations have been held till
September, 2024.
India-UK FTA negotiations were launched on 13th January 2022.
Thirteen Rounds of negotiations have been held till December 2023. The 14th Round of
Negotiations, which began on 10th January 2024,
was underway when negotiations were paused by UK side in May 2024 due to their
elections. Consequent to the meeting of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and
the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom H.E. Sir Keir Starmer on the sidelines
of the G-20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the UK announced the relaunch of
the India-UK Free Trade talks early next year. The UK and India will continue
to negotiate towards a comprehensive and ambitious Free Trade Agreement.
The India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) builds on the
foundation laid by the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement
(ECTA), which came into force on 29th December,
2022. The CECA envisage a deeper and comprehensive agreement and it initiates
negotiations on the 5 ECTA agreed themes, namely Trade in Goods, Trade in
Services, Rules of Origin (ROO)-Product Specific Rules Schedule, Digital Trade
and Government Procurement. In addition to the 5 ECTA agreed tracks,
exploratory discussions are being held on 14 new areas in which either party
has shown interest for inclusion in CECA such as Competition & Consumer
Protection, MSME, Trade and Gender Equality, Labour, Environment, Space Co-operation,
Innovation, Agriculture & Animal Husbandry Technology, Legal &
Institutional, State Own Enterprises, Sports Co-operation, Traditional
Knowledge, Intellectual Property and Critical Minerals. Total 10 formal rounds
along with inter-sessional discussions have been held so far.
India - Sri Lanka Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) negotiations
are ongoing with the 14th round of negotiations concluded
in July 2024. Except the track on goods dealing with specific lines pertaining
to garments, negotiations on almost all chapters including services and Rules
of Origin have been concluded.
India is negotiating a Trade Agreement with Peru covering
trade in goods & services. The 6th and the 7th rounds of
negotiations were held this year during 12th - 14th February,
2024 and 8th - 11th April, 2024 respectively. Both sides aimed at understanding
priorities and concerns of each other, ensuring that the negotiations were
rooted in mutual respect and benefit.
India-Dominican Republic Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO): India and
Dominican Republic signed a Protocol for establishment of Joint Economic and
Trade Committee on 12th March, 2024. The establishment of JETCO will strengthen bilateral
economic ties and shall provide a platform for discussions to facilitate trade
and industry, mitigating challenges, exchange of information, knowledge and
ideas.
India-ASEAN: The 21st ASEAN-India Economic Ministers’ meeting was held on 20th
September 2024 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Economic Ministers or their
representatives from all the 10 ASEAN countries viz. Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam participated in the meeting. Discussions were held on the issue of
substantial conclusion of the ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA)
Review negotiations by 2025.
During the year 2024, four rounds of AITIGA negotiations were held. 3rd
& 6th AITIGA Joint Committee (JC) and related meetings have been held in
India in February 2024 and November 2024 respectively. The 4th & 5th AITIGA
JC was held in Putrajaya, Malaysia in May 2024 and in Jakarta, Indonesia during
July-August 2024 respectively. AITIGA JC was co-chaired by Shri Rajesh Agrawal,
Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, India and Ms. Mastura Ahmad
Mustafa, Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of Investment, Trade &
Industry, Malaysia. JC is working towards making AITIGA more effective,
user-friendly, simple, and trade facilitative for businesses. The review will
target addressing injury to industries from the existing AITIGA and the
inequitable tariff liberalization by all the partner countries. The review is
targeted to conclude in 2025. During all these rounds of discussions, the
Sub-Committees working under JC have made good progress in textual discussions.
Enhancing Services Trade through Free Trade Agreements
India has bilateral trade agreements, including Trade in Services, with
Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, UAE, Australia and an FTA
in services and investment with the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN). The India- EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) was
signed in March 2024.
Currently, India is engaged in FTA negotiations including in Trade in
Services with the UK, the EU, Oman, Peru, and Sri Lanka. India is also engaged
in negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with
Australia building upon the market access commitments in Trade in Services
under India- Australia Economic Cooperation Trade Agreement (ECTA).
India is leveraging its FTA engagements to achieve these goals by
ensuring certainty in market access, non-discriminatory treatment and a
transparent and objective regulatory environment, for our Services exports.
*This is part 1 of the series on 2024 Year End
Review for Department of Commerce
