India likely to ask Brazil to expedite negotiations for trade pact

India has partial admission in the regional bloc, and about two-thirds of its total trade with the region is through this avenue

India is expected to push Brazil to fast-track negotiations for the expansion of the India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), of which both nations are part, during Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s four-day visit, which started on Friday.

Bolstering efforts to widen the number of products covered under the PTA remains an important agenda for New Delhi. Back in mid-July, India had asked Brazil to fast track negotiations on New Delhi’s PTA with the Latin American economic bloc, which also includes Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Signed in 2004, the PTA is the only major way India accesses the continents with a vast consumer