India has had talks with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on starting negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), the Indian Commerce Ministry said on Friday.
The discussions took place earlier this week between Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, who is on a official visit to Russia, and Veronika Nikishina, the Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission, which apart from the Russian Federation includes Belarus and the central Asian republics of Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
"Both Ministers discussed early start of negotiations of the free trade agreement between India and the Eurasian Economic Commission, as well as the potential and opportunities for increasing trade cooperation," the statement said here.
Current Indian trade with the EAEU region is barely $8.4 billion, which is well below potential.
The EAEU has so far concluded only one FTA with Vietnam and India would be the second.
During his first visit to Russia over November 15-17 as the Commerce Minister, Prabhu also attended the first ministerial conference on trade organised by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) after India became a full member of the organisation in June 2017.
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The SCO is a political, economic and military grouping headquartered in Beijing. Founded in 2001, it comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan besides China as full members.
In June, India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO security grouping that is increasingly seen as a counterweight to NATO.
On Thursday, Prabhu met with Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin and discussed ways to increase the current level of bilateral trade between India and Russia, the statement said.
Also on Thursday, Prabhu took part in a roundtable with 30 leading Russian business leaders in the areas of steel, engineering goods, railways, financial services, nuclear energy, agriculture, venture Capital and trade promotion, it said.
The Indian Commerce Minister invited the Russian businessmen to take part in the Partnership Summit, due to take place on February 24-26 next year in Vishakapatnam.
--IANS
bc/dg
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