India and the European Union (EU) concluded their fourth round of talks for a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) in Brussels on March 18, tweeted Nidhi Mani Tripathi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce and India’s chief negotiator for the agreement. The next round of talks is planned for June 12-16. India had started negotiations for a trade pact with the 27-nation bloc of EU in 2007, but the talks stalled in 2013 as both sides failed to reach an agreement on key issues, including customs duties on automobiles and spirits and the movement of professionals. The two sides resume
Big Japanese companies have offered the largest pay rises in a quarter century in response to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s calls for higher wages to counter rising living costs. Worker pay has been low in Japan since the late 1990s due to sputtering growth, when investment in the economy turns sluggish over a sustained period of time, affecting consumption. It has left Japanese pay well behind the pays in other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Now, a weak yen and rising commodity prices have driven up import costs and pushed infla
India and Australia have agreed to conclude the negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement “as soon as possible” as there is huge potential to enhance bilateral commerce in the next five years, said a joint statement. The statement was issued after the meeting of Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell in New Delhi on March 11. Both countries already implemented an economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA) in December 2022, and are now negotiating to widen the scope of that pact into a comprehens
Sri Lanka has used over $10 million from India’s assistance of $1 billion to print nearly half of the textbooks for its four million young students, the Indian High Commission here said on March 12. A concessional credit facility of $1 billion was extended to the Government of Sri Lanka by the Government of India in March 2022 for supply of essential items, including food, fuel, medicines, and industrial raw materials. Out of this facility, over $10 million has been used by State Printing Corporation (SPC) and private importers to procure printing paper and material from India. The fund
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will virtually inaugurate the first cross-border oil pipeline between the two countries on March 18 for diesel transportation to Bangladesh. Delhi would use the 130-km long India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL), which has been built at a cost of ₹346 crore, from the Indian line of credit (LoC). Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner Andalib Elias has called the cross-border oil pipeline the real manifestation of the wonderful friendship of India and Bangladesh. “PM Modi and my PM Sheikh Hasina first initiated
The merchandise and services exports of India in the current financial year ending March 2023 will be close to $760-770 billion, said Union Minister for State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel on March 9, 2023. The country's merchandise and services exports stood at $672 billion in the last fiscal. “We are focusing in every possible way on how we can export more and more because today India’s share in global merchandise trade is close to 1.8 per cent. As far as services trade is concerned, it is just 4 per cent. We want to take it to 10 per cent,” Patel said at the Sourcex
Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Ministry allowed all residents in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states to apply for a tourist visa online to visit the kingdom, regardless of their profession. Saudi Arabia on March 9 announced that all expatriate residents in GCC countries, irrespective of their profession, will be allowed to obtain a tourist visa. The multiple entry visa is valid for both tourism and for performing Umrah, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al Khateeb said. The tourist visa does not allow the holder to perform Hajj or perform Umrah during the Hajj season. Also,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 2 announced the establishment of a ‘Startup Bridge’ between India and Italy. Speaking at the press meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Delhi’s Hyderabad House, the Prime Minister said that both countries have laid special emphasis on increasing cooperation in areas such as renewable energy, green hydrogen, IT, semiconductors, telecom and space. On India and Italy celebrating 75th years of bilateral relations this year, the PM said, “We have decided to give the status of Strategic Partnership to India-Italy partnership.” T
The United Arab Emirates’ economy expanded 7.6 percent in 2022, said the country’s Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq al-Marri on March 2. This is about double the rise in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) recorded in 2021, as the Gulf nation bounced back sharply from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, higher energy prices supported economic growth across the Gulf region’s oil exporters in 2022. This year, a slowdown is forecast with a more uncertain oil price outlook and a challenging global macroeconomic environment. The UAE aims to double the size of its economy by 2031 and
Indian exports to Australia would be tariff and quota-free within six years, said former Prime Minister of Australian Tony Abbott in New Delhi on March 2 during an interaction organised by the India-Australia Strategic Alliance. Calling the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) to be one of the best deals for India, Abbott said, “It’s the best trade deal that India has done with any major economy. About 90 percent of Australia's exports to India are to be tariff and quota-free. Within six years, 100 percent of India's exports to Australia will be tariff and qu