India and Canada Resume Second Round of FTA Negotiations in New Delhi
This round is important as commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will visit Canada by the end of this month to give an impetus to the negotiations: Officials
NEW DELHI: The government on Monday said that India and Canada on Monday began a second round of negotiations for a free trade agreement aimed at boosting two-way commerce and investments. “The five-day talks started on May 4 here,” an official said.
The first round of talks between the two countries was held in March. This round is important as commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will visit Canada by the end of this month to give an impetus to the negotiations.
The negotiations mark the resumption of talks, as the two countries had earlier engaged in a similar exercise, but Canada paused it in 2023. Now, they decided to resume talks from the beginning as a lot has changed on the global trade front during these two years.
The negotiations are important, as the two sides have fixed a target to increase the bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030. As per the latest government data, it stood at $8.66 billion in 2024-25 ($4.22 billion exports and $4.44 billion imports).
