An agreement could potentially bolster India’s economic forays in the Indo-Pacific region through wider market access.
Last year in October, the two countries had set the target of concluding the interim trade deal by December 2021 and to conclude talks on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) by the end of 2022. However, the early ‘harvest deal’ was held up due to apprehensions on the Indian side regarding opening up of the country’s agriculture and dairy sectors.
The negotiations received a push at last week’s virtual summit between the two prime ministers.
“Our Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement – CECA, on this, as you said, I also want to say that remarkable progress has been made in a very short time. I am confident that the remaining issues will also be agreed upon soon,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his opening remarks at the virtual summit on March 21.