Lok Sabha Question No. 1389 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-05
Subject: Bilateral Trade Agreements
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT

## MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1389 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05 th  MARCH,2018

## BILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS

## 1389.   SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN:

DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाͨणÏय एवं उɮयोग मंğी ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether India has signed bilateral trade agreements with various countries;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  and  the  salient  features  of  the  agreements  signed  during  the  last  three years;
- (c) whether  India  and  Bangladesh  have  recently  held  detailed  discussions  in  Dhaka  to  boost bilateral trade and investments and if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (d) whether  both  the  countries  have  also  deliberated  upon  expansion  of  border  haats, identification  and  resolution  of  nontariff  issues  affecting  bilateral  trade  and  ease  of investment and if so, the outcome thereof; and
- (e) the other steps taken by the Government to boost trade between India and Bangladesh?

## ANSWER

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## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

- (a)&(b)The  details  of  the  Free  Trade  Agreements  (FTAs),  including  Comprehensive  Economic Cooperation Agreements(CECAs) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements(CEPA) and Preferential Trade Agreements(PTAs) entered into by India is given in Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively. India has not entered into any new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in the last three years. However, India  expanded  the  scope  of  the  India-ASEAN  Trade  in  Goods  Agreement  in  November, 2014 to cover both Services  and Investment  which got implemented on 1 st July  2015.  The Agreement  on  Investment  aims  to  create  a  liberal,  facilitative  and  competitive  investment

regime in the region among the participating countries to support and contribute to economic growth, development and regional integration. The agreement on Services provide business certainty  to  service  providers  from  both  India  and  ASEAN  countries  and  is  expected  to strengthen  the  business  and  commercial  relations  between  the  two.  In  addition,  India  and Chile expanded the existing PTA to include new additional lines of interest to each other. The India-Chile Expanded PTA came into force on 16 May, 2017.

- (c)&(d):  Commerce  Secretary  level  meeting  between  India  and  Bangladesh  was  held  on    7 th -8 th February 2018 at Dhaka. In the meeting, both sides had extensive discussions on a variety of issues concerning bilateral trade and economic relations, including, inter-alia, up-gradation of infrastructure  at  border  trading  points,    non-tariff  issues  affecting  bilateral  trade  such  as mutual recognition of test certificates, removal of port restrictions, the operation of existing Border Haats  and  the  vision  for  their  future  development,  establishment  of  an  institutional mechanism for inputs on trade and investment, etc.
- (e) For  increasing  bilateral  trade  with  Bangladesh,  the  Government  has  taken  various  steps  to improve  the  trade  infrastructure  which,  inter-alia,  include  upgradation  of  Land  Customs Stations, establishment of Integrated Check Posts/Border Haats, facilitation of bilateral and sub-regional  connectivity,  etc.  The  Government  continues  to  engage  pro-actively  with Bangladesh to strengthen trade and economic relations. Further, assistance is provided under Market Access Initiative (MAI) to Indian exporters, Export Promotion Councils, apex trade bodies etc., for participation in events in foreign countries, including Bangladesh.

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## FTA's already in force

|   Sl. No. | Name of the Agreement                                                                                                                                                        | Date of Signing of the Agreement                                            | Date of Implementation of the Agreement                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | India - Sri Lanka FTA                                                                                                                                                        | 28th December. 1998                                                         | 1 st March, 2000                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|         2 | Agreement on SAFTA (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan)                                                                     | 4th January, 2004                                                           | 1st January, 2006 (Tariff concessions implemented from 1 st July, 2006)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|         3 | India Nepal Treaty of Trade                                                                                                                                                  | 27 th October 2009                                                          | The Treaty has been extended for a further period of 7 years and is currently in force till 26 th October 2023.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|         4 | India - Bhutan Agreement on Trade Commerce and Transit                                                                                                                       | 17 th January, 1972                                                         | Renewed periodically, with mutually agreed modifications. Agreement dated 29 th July 2006 was valid for 10 years. With mutual consent, the validity was extended for a period of one year or the period till the proposed new Agreement comes into force. The renewed Agreement has been signed on 12.11.2016 and came into force with effect from 29 July 2017. |
|         5 | India - Thailand FTA - Early Harvest Scheme (EHS)                                                                                                                            | 9 th October, 2003.                                                         | 1 st September, 2004                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|         6 | India - Singapore CECA                                                                                                                                                       | 29th June, 2005                                                             | 1st August, 2005                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|         7 | India - ASEAN- CECA - Trade in Goods, Services and Investment Agreement (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) | 13 th August, 2009 for goods and November, 2014 for Services and Investment | Goods  1st January 2010 in respect of India and Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand.  1 st June 2010 in respect of India and Vietnam.  1 st September 2010 in respect of India and Myanmar.  1 st October 2010 in respect of India and Indonesia.  1 st November 2010 in respect of India and Brunei.  24 January 2011 in respect of India and Laos.             |

## Annexure-I

| Sl. No.   | Name of the Agreement    | Date of Signing of the Agreement   | Date of Implementation of the Agreement                                                                                                              |
|-----------|--------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|           |                          |                                    |  1 st June 2011 in respect of India and the Philippines.  1 st August, 2011 in respect of India and Cambodia. Services and Investment 1 July, 2015 |
| 8         | India - South Korea CEPA | 7 th August 2009                   | 1 st January, 2010                                                                                                                                   |
| 9         | India - Japan CEPA       | 16 th February, 2011               | 1 st August, 2011                                                                                                                                    |
| 10        | India - Malaysia CECA    | 18 th February, 2011               | 1 st July, 2011                                                                                                                                      |

## PTAs already in force:

|   Sl. No. | Name of the Agreement                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | Date of Signing of the Agreement            | Date of Implementation of the Agreement                                                                                    |
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) (Bangladesh, China, India, Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Sri Lanka)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | July, 1975 (revised on 2 nd November, 2005) | 1st Nov, 1976                                                                                                              |
|         2 | Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) (Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Tanzania, | 13 th April, 1988                           | 19 th April, 1989                                                                                                          |
|         3 | SAARC Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | 11 April, 1993                              | 7 December, 1995                                                                                                           |
|         4 | India - Afghanistan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | 6th March, 2003                             | 13 th May, 2003                                                                                                            |
|         5 | India - MERCOSUR                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | 25th January, 2004                          | 1st June, 2009                                                                                                             |
|         6 | India - Chile                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | 8 th March, 2006                            | 11 th September, 2007. The agreement has been expanded on 6 th September, 2016 and came into force w.e.f. 16 th May, 2017. |

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## Annexure-II