India and Oman will begin a new round of talks today as part of the ongoing free trade agreement between the two nations.
There has been “significant progress” in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement trade talks between New Delhi and Muscat, Amardeep Bhatia, additional secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, told media on Monday evening.
Discussions would take place along five trade tracks including rules of origin, trade in goods, trade in services, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade, Bhatia said.
Oman serves as India’s third-largest export destination within the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, after the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $12.39 billion in FY23, rising from $5.01 billion in FY19. Of this, exports to Oman grew from $2.25 billion in FY19 to $4.48 billion in FY23.
The Commerce Ministry had previously indicated that both the countries were eager to close the deal and are making progress, with the text on most chapters already completed by both sides.
Formal discussions began in November, with the first round of negotiations taking place in New Delhi from Nov. 27-29, 2023. The second round of negotiations was held in Muscat from Dec. 9-14, 2023.
Experts said the talks could offer a better deal on petroleum crude for India and diversify its crude import source nations. India is largely import-dependent for this commodity.
WTO Stakeholder Meet
India will also be participating in the upcoming World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference, which will take place in Abu Dhabi from Feb. 19 to 26.
The event is expected to witness participation from ministers across the world to review functioning of the multilateral trading system and take action on future work, according to the WTO website.
The Commerce Ministry is expected to host a stakeholder meeting with trade sector experts on Jan. 20 to discuss few areas of interest for India to take as part of its position.
“…WTO (meet) will be crucial in the sense of the larger geopolitical concern and there is going to be a lot of discussion leading up to it…” Peeyush Kumar, additional secretary with the Commerce Ministry, told media on Monday.
Issues of importance to India will likely be along areas of agriculture and WTO reform, fisheries subsidies negotiations, e-commerce moratorium and Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right or TRIPS waiver, the appellate body crisis, trade and sustainable development, and environment and non-trade issues.
The Commerce Ministry will also host an in-person Chief Negotiators’ Meeting regarding the India- Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, between Jan. 18-19 in New Delhi, which will delve into the settlement package.
The India-EU FTA is also slated to have a track and Chief Negotiator-level discussion on modalities for services and investment chapter between Jan. 15-19, which will be followed by the seventh round of negotiations from Feb. 19 in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, U.K. and India continue deliberations on the 14th round of FTA talks that began on Jan. 10. Negotiations are either mostly “closed” or at an “advanced stage”, according to Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal.