The Commerce Ministry has said that India looking at diversifying its export and import basket to reduce dependence on a few countries and is exploring trade opportunities at places where the potential has remained largely untapped.

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While India has already begun talks for a potential Free trade Agreement (FTA) with Peru, Chile has also shown interest among other nations in the Latin American region to enhance trade cooperation with India.

India is looking at possible trade partnerships with both these countries in a quest to secure a supply of critical minerals, amidst a demand for review of several FTAs in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.

A government official said that a joint committee for review of the ASEAN FTA has already been constituted and the matter is under consideration for a year now, stating that any further developments will take place only after a meeting on ATEGA (ASEAN Trade and Goods Agreement) takes place later this month.

While the fifth round of India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) negotiations took place in New Delhi in a hybrid mode from 7th to 11th August, another round of India-UK FTA negotiations is underway since 8th August and may get extended from its slated completion date of 25th August if the need arises.

High-level meetings for the India-UK FTA negotiations are also likely during the G20 TIWG (Trade and Investment Working Group) meeting as several top officials are slated to travel to India.

India and UK have already closed 19 out of 26 chapters in the FTA negotiations. While India has recently exported potatoes for the first time to Guyana in South America, APEDA had jointly organised a buyer-seller meet to promote Indian rice, bovine meat and millet exports at Food and Hotel Indonesia (FHI) 2023 in Jakarta.

The 1st consignment of 28.5 MT frozen meat under i-CAS (Indian conformity assessment scheme) Halal certification had recently been organised from Kishanganj in Bihar to Vietnam, even as efforts are underway to expand gems and jewellery exports beyond the major destinations: US and China.

Stating that food stocks are in good condition, Commerce Ministry officials refused to comment on what they described as speculation on a possible change in import duty on wheat.

While India-Bangladesh trade currently operates under South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) in the absence of any bilateral agreement, Commerce Ministry officials said that India wants to encourage imports of tomatoes and other similar products from Nepal and other landlocked neighbours as India has a large trade surplus with them.