August 28, 2008

India expects FTA with Gulf within one year

Mr Kamal Nath commerce minister of India said that he expects substantial progress in reaching a free trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council within 1 year. He added that a deal has been delayed because negotiators have been busy with trade talks at the World Trade Organization.

Mr Nath, while addressing at the Dubai International Financial Centre, said that "We will be pushing this forward. We should make substantial progress in the next one year. There has been a slowdown in the negotiations not because of any content issues but because of resource issue. India is negotiating with the EU, Japan, South Korea and then they are doing the intensive WTO talks that have taken up the time of our negotiating teams."