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Informist, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026

 

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--Minister Goyal: Hope to conclude FTA with Chile soon 
--CONTEXT: Comments by Commerce Minister Goyal at Business Standard Manthan 
--Minister Goyal: EU FTA may come into effect first qtr of next year 
--Minister Goyal: Expect FTAs with UK, Oman to come into effect in April 
--Minister Goyal: Hopeful of launching FTA talks with Canada later this week 

 

NEW DELHI – India and Israel began the first round of negotiations for the proposed Free Trade Agreement Monday while talks with Canada over a trade agreement could take place later this week. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal also held discussions with Chile on the proposed FTA, which the government hopes to conclude soon.

 

India and Israel will continue negotiations of the trade pact until Thursday. The two sides had signed terms of reference for the FTA in November. FTA negotiations between the two sides have begun just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel on Wednesday and Thursday.

 

The two nations had held trade agreement negotiations in May 2010. Eight rounds of talks have been held since, with the last round being held 12 years back in November 2013. After the 12-year hiatus, the two countries decided to sign a bilateral investment treaty in September, rekindling their economic partnership. In 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), India exported goods worth $2.15 billion to Israel, while it imported goods worth $1.48 billion.

 

"During this round, technical experts from both sides will engage in sessions covering various aspects of FTA such as trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, customs procedure and trade facilitation, intellectual property rights, among others," the commerce ministry said in a release Tuesday. 

 

Addressing a Confederation of Indian Industry summit in Chennai virtually, Goyal said that Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney is expected to visit India shortly. Both sides are hopeful of finalising the terms of reference and launching FTA negotiations with Canada later this week, Goyal said. 

 

The negotiations between India and Canada had halted in September 2023 at a time when bilateral relations had broken down. As relations between India and Canada improved last year, the two sides began negotiations for an FTA in December. In 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), India's trade with Canada totalled $8.7 billion, with exports worth $4.2 billion.

 

"India is building bridges of trade, trust and transformation," Goyal said. India now enjoys preferential trade access to nearly two-thirds of global trade owing to a series of high-quality FTAs, Goyal said. 

 

India has signed several FTAs over the past year, including with the UK, the European Union, and New Zealand. "Many FTAs are in the process of coming into effect," Goyal said at an event in Delhi later in the day. 

 

The government expects the trade agreements with the UK and Oman to come into effect in April and the New Zealand FTA in later part of this year. "EU FTA maybe should get completed, the processes are a little longer in EU, by the end of this calender year. So it should come into effect first quarter next year," Goyal said.  End

 

US$1 = INR 90.95

 

Reported by Shubham Rana

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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