India-EFTA deal: Union Minister Piyush Goyal, quoting PM Narendra Modi, said, "Despite structural diversities in many aspects, our economies possess complementarities that promise to be a win-win situation for all nations. With the opening up of enormous trading and investment opportunities, we have reached a new level of trust and ambition. The trade agreement symbolizes our shared agreement to open fair, equitable trade, as well as generate growth and employment for the youth."
A free trade agreement was struck on Sunday between India and the four-nation European group EFTA. The agreement will aid in the promotion of investments and exports of important domestic service industries including information technology, audiovisual, and the mobility of trained personnel.
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are the members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
“Despite structural diversions in many aspects, our economies possess complementarities that promise to be a win-win situation for all nations,” Union Minister Piyush Goyal quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying. Massive new investment and trading prospects have brought us to a new level of confidence and drive. The trade agreement represents our mutual commitment to fostering growth and creating jobs for young people through the opening of fair and equitable trade.
Also, he promised that India would help the EFTA nations in any way it could and would make it easier for companies to not only meet but exceed their goals. To a brighter future for all of us, may this agreement usher in a new era in the history of our countries.
Trade deal praised by PM Modi
Our shared commitment to open, fair, and equitable trade is symbolised by the India-EFTA trade deal, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Sunday statement. New avenues of cooperation will be made possible, he added, thanks to the EFTA nations' worldwide preeminence in innovation and research and development in fields as diverse as digital trade, banking and financial services, and pharmaceuticals.
"Heartiest Congratulations and best wishes to the negotiators and signatories involved in the signing of India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA)," Modi wrote in a letter.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal read out the prime minister's message as EFTA ministers and officials looked on.
Over the past decade, India's economy has experienced a meteoric rise, going from eleventh to fifth largest in the world. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, "Our next goal is to make India's economy in the world.".
The deal was worth $100 billion
India had hoped that the member states of the bloc would invest $50 billion in the first decade following the agreement's implementation and an additional $50 billion in the subsequent five years, with the goal of creating 1 million direct jobs in India.
The agreement would establish a connection between this pledge and a reduction in duties.
Industries associated with nearly all of India's industrial exports to the bloc stand to gain from the deal.
The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), as it is formally known, was approved by the Union Cabinet on March 7. The signing of the treaty follows its approval.
Chapters 1–14 cover topics such as products trade, rules of origin, intellectual property rights (IPRs), services trade, government procurement, technical impediments to trade, investment cooperation and promotion, and trade facilitation.
Guy Parmelin, Head of the Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research and Swiss Federal Councillor; Bjarni Benediktsson, Foreign Minister of Iceland; Dominique Hasler, Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein; and Jan Christian Vestre, Trade and Industry Minister of Norway are the four EFTA bloc ministers who may be present at the signing. Since January 2008, when talks began, India and EFTA have worked to strengthen their economic links through the accord.
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