Bernama | 2 Jul 2014

Peru, India to kick off FTA talks in August this year

LIMA, July 2 (BERNAMA-NNN-ANDINA) — Peru and India are expected to meet in August this year to hammer out a solid framework for staring negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the country’s Foreign Trade and Tourism Ministry (Mincetur) has said.

Mincetur’s head, Magali Silva, stressed her counterpart from India Nirmala Sitharaman is eager to begin free-trade negotiations as soon as possible to further deepen the two countries’ bilateral ties in the commerce and trade fields.

"At request of the Indian government, the Ollanta Humala administration will be sending a technical committee to the East Asian nation to discuss issues regarding the mentioned matter," Silva told Andina news agency.

The delegation, which is set to be led by the Deputy Foreign Trade Minister, Edgar Vasquez, will held a working meeting with high-level Indian authorities for establishing a draft of a joint feasibility study.

The two-way trade between Peru and India rose to US$ 1.5 billion in 2013. The volume of trade has gone up seven times over the last five years. Meanwhile, exports from the Andean nation to India totaled US$ 593 million in 2013.

The Peruvian government has free-trade deals currently in force with China, one of its largest trading partners, the United States and Japan.