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India, Eurasian union kick-start FTA talks
India and the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) that comprises Russia will start formal negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) soon.
Dr.G.R.Balakrishnan Apr 03 2024 Exim & Trade News

India, Eurasian union kick-start FTA talks

 “Senior officers of both sides have met on March 28 here and have discussed formally starting talks for the FTA,” a senior official said.

EaEU is an economic union of five post-Soviet states in Eurasia, namely Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. The EaEU was established on January 1, 2015, and has a single market, with 183 million people and combined GDP of over $2.4 trillion as of 2023.

.In recent months, talks seemed to have gathered pace. The Ukraine-Russia conflict made Russia the 4th biggest source of imports resulting in therefore a huge trade deficit with it.

India is seeking opportunities for its agriculture and engineering sector in Russia and investments in the energy sector. As India became a base for mobile handset manufacturing, Russia had become a significant buyer. The trade telecom of electronics and telecom goods exports to Russia and Belarus are now impacted due to Western sanctions on such exports.  In effect, this has closed the opportunity for India in the emerging sector.

The joint feasibility study for the FTA was done way back in 2016 and this has been followed by another study by India’s Exim Bank.

The FTAs that are nearing completion include ones with the UK and Oman. Talks are said to be on with the European Union and Peru for a trade agreement. Trade agreements are crucial for a country’s economy to grow but of course reaching agreements are not that easy since the countries seek opportunities for their growth. Actually, mutual benefits decide the agreements in general.