Thursday, September 23, 2010

With the door to Doha closed, India opens up windows to the world

Seeing no progress on the stalled multilateral trade talks, potential partners are keen on bilateral pacts with India.
Nine years after New Delhi started implementing its Plan B — bilateral trade agreements — to beat the impasse at the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Round of liberalisation talks, India seems to be finally rolling.
PLAN B
INDIA’S BILATERAL TRADE TALKS
Partner Start of
talks
Status
Thailand  2001 Under negotiation; likely to be signed in 2010
Singapore  2002 Signed in December 2007; to be reviewed
Sri Lanka 2003 Under negotiation
Mauritius  2003 Under negotiation
China 2003 Joint feasibility study underway
Asean 2003 Trade in goods pact signed in August 
2009; agreement on services to be 
signed soon 
Malaysia 2004 Likely to be signed by December 2010
BIMSTEC 2004 Under negotiation
GCC 2004 Under negotiation
Japan  2005 To be signed in October 2010
SACU 2005 Under negotiation
Chile  2005 Signed in March 2006; to be reviewed 
Israel 2006 Under negotiation
SAFTA 2006 In force
EU 2006 Under negotiation
EFTA 2008 Under negotiation
Australia 2008 Joint feasibility study underway
Nepal  2009 Treaty in force until 2016 
South Korea 2009 Under negotiation
New Zealand 2009 Under negotiation
Indonesia 2009 Joint feasibility study underway
Turkey  2010 Joint feasibility study underway
Pakistan _ No formal agreement; Most Favoured 
Nation status accorded 
Asean          =     Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia,
                            Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines
BIMSTEC      =    Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar
GCC             =    Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman
SACU           =    South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia
SAFTA         =    India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives,
                           Nepal, Afghanistan
EFTA           =    Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein

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