Khaleej times

India - GCC FTA talks to conclude by ’07

March 26, 2006

MUSCAT — India and the GCC, which groups Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, expects to conclude a free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of the year or early in 2007, senior officials from both sides said here yesterday.

    "We have together resolved to work for finalising the agreement by early 2007," India's Minister of Commerce Kamal Nath said.

The two sides, predicting bilateral trade to expand to $25 billion by 2010 from the current around $17 billion, have been discussing the FTA since August 2004 when they signed a 'Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation'.

    The latest round of talks was held in Saudi Arabia last week. "I am delighted at the outcome of the latest round of discussions three days ago in Riyadh which has been very fruitful," Nath said, adding:

    "We have also agreed to expand the scope to include services and investment, thus making it a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement instead of a mere FTA."

    Oman's Commerce and Industry Minister Maqbool bin Ali Sultan said: "Common economic and trading interests had pushed the two sides towards reaching an FTA.

    "Due to the great importance of the FTA, we request the negotiating teams to exert concentrated efforts so that the negotiations can be finalised before the end of the year," he added.

    Nath, Sultan and commerce and industry ministers of the six GCC countries are here to attend the second 'GCC-India Business Conference' that opened here yesterday. The two-day meeting, with hundreds of delegates from both sides in attendance is aimed at strengthening existing ties.

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