EAEU, India agree on trade liberalization for goods during FTA negotiations - Russian Economic Development Ministry

MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - The countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and India have agreed on the contours of trade liberalization for goods, the Russian Economic Development Ministry said following the second round of negotiations on concluding a free trade agreement (FTA) with India held in Moscow this week.

"The key result was the agreement on the contours of trade liberalization for goods," the ministry said.

"India is a strategic partner of Russia and its third largest trading partner. Despite the significant level of trade, our range of supplies to India is still poorly diversified. Indian colleagues are also interested in increasing exports to the Russian market. Such mutual interest, as the negotiations have shown, may allow us to achieve a fairly significant liberalization of the overall trade flow," the ministry quoted Deputy Economic Development Minister Vladimir Ilyichev as saying.

In addition to tariff liberalization, the parties discussed the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, as well as technical regulation measures, the ministry said. Ensuring fair competition, protecting intellectual property rights, customs administration, deepening cooperation in priority sectors of the economy, as well as many other topics were also considered.

Negotiations with India were launched in November last year in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. The agreement is expected to cover a wide range of issues related to trade in goods between the countries. "The parties expect that the conclusion of the agreement will allow Russian-Indian trade relations to be raised to a qualitatively new level, as well as create a basis for strengthening economic cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi," the Economic Development Ministry said.