New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) A team of negotiators, led by Commerce Secretary-designate Rajesh Agarwal, is likely to travel to Washington, DC, next week to advance discussions on the proposed India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
The high-level meetings are expected to take place over three days starting April 23, according to reports.
As per officials, the agenda for the talks has been finalised and will cover an extensive range of issues spread across 19 chapters.
These include key areas such as tariffs, non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, trade in goods and services, customs facilitation, and regulatory cooperation.
This round of talks is being closely watched, with both New Delhi and Washington aiming to conclude an early harvest agreement before the fall deadline.
India and the US have targeted to conclude the first phase of the BTA by the fall (September-October) of this year, with an aim to more than double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, from about $191 billion currently.
Both the nations are working to sign the first tranche of a BTA to bring down tariffs before the agreed timeline of the fall of 2025 as the the terms of reference for the pact have already been finalised.
“India and US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) terms of reference have been finalised when the US team was here. The first tranche negotiations will start virtually on the various chapters within this week, and the talks in the physical mode may start at the end of the month,” Additional Secretary, Commerce, Rajesh Agarwal said this week
“India has decided to go for a path of trade liberalisation with the US,” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told journalists. He said both India and the US would benefit if the trade deal is wrapped up before the fall of 2025.
“When we said we want to do a first tranche of BTA with the US by fall, that doesn’t mean we can’t do it before fall. If we end up doing the BTA before fall, then it will be good for both India and the US,” he added.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also set to embark on an official visit to the US and Peru, beginning April 20, where she is slated to participate in multilateral dialogues to showcase India’s economic dynamism.
—IANS
na/
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
