Swarajya - 31 October 2022

India-Gulf Cooperation Council FTA negotiations likely to begin next month: report

India is likely to begin the talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) next month, reports Economic Times.

The India-GCC free trade pact will not only boost the relations between the regions but will help New Delhi in significantly increasing its share in global exports.

"Terms of reference for the agreement are being finalised and we expect to launch the negotiations next month," an official told PTI.

The GCC is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union of countries in gulf region, and has six members - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

It should be noted that India had already implemented a free trade agreement with the UAE, a prominent member of the GCC, in May this year.

The GCC region holds huge trade potential and a trade pact will help in further increasing India’s exports to that market.

The FTA will also help India in ramping up its exports of goos and services to $2 trillion by 2030. Further, the pact will be a boost to India’s ambition to raise the share of its exports in global trade from current 2.1 per cent to 3 per cent by 2027, and 10 per cent by 2047.