With eye on key minerals, India to hold 6th round of trade talks with Peru in December

The government is hoping to diversify India's import basket in terms of essential metals and minerals by entering into a trade agreement with Peru, the commerce ministry said on November 15, adding that it was also looking to explore "untapped potential" in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

India's bilateral trade with Peru in 2022-23 stood at $3.12 billion, with exports at $865.91 million and imports totaling $2.25 billion. Key Indian exports to Peru include cars, cotton yarn, and pharmaceuticals, while purchases from Peru mostly include gold, copper ores, and concentrates.

UK FTA talks

Meanwhile, discussions with UK over the Free Trade Agreement continue amid the Cabinet reshuffle in the European nation, with former Prime Minister David Cameron named as secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth, and development affairs on November 13, although Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said India and the UK governments are "not working with any deadlines" when it comes to finalising the FTA.

"We are working with timelines, not deadlines" Barthwal told reporters on November 15 while announcing the merchandise trade numbers for October.

Also Read: Cabinet reshuffle will not affect India-UK FTA talks

Nidhi Mani Tripathi, a joint secretary in the commerce ministry who is also India's Chief Negotiator for the FTA negotiations with the UK, said there have been "continuous exchanges at all levels" to iron out differences and that majority of the chapters are either closed or are at advanced stage of negotiations.

"We intend to close as many issues as possible quickly," Tripathi added.

On the India-European Union FTA talks, on which six rounds of talks have been held so far, discussions are ongoing, commerce ministry officials said.

Australia and Sri Lanka

Regarding talks with Australia over the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), Joint Secretary Darpan Jain – India's Chief Negotiator for these negotiations – said discussions were happening at a "fast pace" on goods, services, digital trade, government procurement, and Rules of Origin – Product Specific Rules.

"On Rules of Origin, in fact we have covered almost 84 percent of product specific rules," Jain said, adding that exploratory discussions are being held on 14 new areas, which include innovation, gender, and space co-operation.

"We have actually reached a convergence on many of these issues… So we intend to convert them into formal tracks as early as possible. We are planning next round of negotiations in first week of December," Jain added.

After December, talks will also take place with Sri Lanka in early January over the Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA).