New Delhi, January 19 (IANS). Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday met US Ambassador Sergio Gore and Senator Steve Daines amid India-US bilateral trade talks.
After this meeting, Goyal said that there was a very fruitful conversation between them on the bilateral relations between the two countries.
Giving information about this meeting, Goyal wrote on social media platform
Earlier, Gore had said that India and America are actively involved in trade talks. He also said that although trade is very important for India-US relations, the two countries will also continue to work together in other very important areas such as security, counter-terrorism, energy, technology, education and health.
At the same time, recently India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal said that the first phase of the India-US trade deal is very close to being finalized. However, no timeline has been set for this.
A virtual meeting was held between India’s Piyush Goyal and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jameson Greer in the last week of December and the negotiating teams on both sides are in continuous talks to reach a consensus.
India is in talks for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US among several other countries.
An FTA between India and the European Union (EU) is likely to take place later this month on the visit of top European leaders, who are the chief guests of the Republic Day on January 26.
About a week ago, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal told reporters that India and the EU were in the final stages of negotiations on an FTA and were looking to resolve the remaining issues before the top leadership meeting on January 27, a day after the Republic Day parade.
He further informed that out of 24 chapters of the FTA between India and EU, negotiations on 20 have been finalized and the remaining issues will be resolved by the negotiators soon.
European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and EU President Ursula von der Leyen will be on an official visit to India from January 25 to 27 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will attend India’s 77th Republic Day celebrations on January 26 as chief guests. After this, both the leaders will participate in the India-European Union summit the next day.
–IANS
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