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Informist, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026

 

--Minister Goyal: Will do round 1 of FTA negotiations with GCC nations Oct 

--CONTEXT: Minister Goyal speaking at an event in Delhi 

 

NEW DELHI – India and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council will conduct the first round of negotiations for a free trade agreement next month, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday. Trade agreement negotiations are still continuing with over nine other countries, including the US, he said. "Collectively, these agreements will give us preferential market access to GDP of $60 trillion," Goyal added.

 

India initiated dialogues with the Gulf Cooperation Council members after dialogues with the United Arab Emirates and Oman were over, the minister said at the 13th edition of the Public Affairs Forum of India. "All the enablers are in place," he said. "Agreement with the US is almost done and dusted. We have to find the right, comparable, competitive advantage over our competitors so that we can quickly execute the agreement."

 

India is currently in conversation with Canada, Mexico, Chile, Maldives, Eurasia, Central Asia, Russia, Israel, and the South African Customs Union. "We have launched negotiations with the Southern African Customs Union," Goyal said. India signed terms of reference with the five-member Southern African Customs Union on Aug. 12 to officially launch negotiations for a preferential trade agreement. 

 

A trade agreement with Canada "should collectively give us access to another $15 trillion GDP, so 75% of global GDP," Goyal said. "India will be a part of the global value chain, supply chain, a seamless flow of goods, services, tourists, educational institutions, sports and all. Most of these are very multi-faceted arrangements." 

 

India is also looking at "massive changes" in its maritime regulatory infrastructure and the regulatory ecosystem, enabling more companies to flag their vessels in the country, the minister said.  End

 

US$1 = INR 95.95

 

Reported by Radhika Tiwari

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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