India, US near first phase of trade deal: Goyal

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said India and the US are close to finalising the first phase of an interim trade agreement, likely to be executed next month. The pact aims to improve market access and strengthen bilateral trade cooperation

Visakhapatnam: India and the US are moving towards closing all the open ends of the interim trade agreement, and both sides are likely to execute the “very, very vibrant” first phase of the pact by the middle of next month, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

He said that the US team was in New Delhi from June 2-4 for finalisation of the deal. They held discussions with the Indian team. “I also met with them yesterday, and we are fast moving towards closing all the open ends, and I think sometime by the middle of next month or so, we should be in a position to execute a very, very vibrant first tranche…

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“It is only the first tranche of our bilateral trade agreement, which will give preferential access to India over our competitors,” he told reporters here. He added that a high-level team is expected to visit India towards the end of this month.