EAEU-India’s FTA to begin in 2017

Development of trade and investment cooperation between India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a key factor in their bilateral cooperation, said Alexander Tsybulski, Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development. “In particular, we have prepared the first consolidated edition of the draft report by the joint research group on the conclusion of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and its member states and the Republic of India. By the end of this year we plan to hold the group’s second meeting to resolve any outstanding issues and to discuss draft conclusions and recommendations,” said Tsybulski. He said this way, work on the development of the relevant agreement can be launched next year. 

Tsybulski was part of the Russian delegation for the 22nd session of the Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission in New Delhi, on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation. The Russian delegation was headed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. The Indian delegation was headed by the Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj. The delegations discussed issues of bilateral trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation, and investment co-operation, said the press service of the Russian Economic Development Ministry.

Speaking about Russia-India trade, Tsyybulski said the volume has decreased by 11.8 per cent this year and amounted to $3.4 billion. Exports from Russia fell by 17.9 per cent ($2.2 billion), while Russia’s imports from India increased by 3.2 per cent to $1.2 billion. According to analysts, the volume of investment cooperation between the two countries is $ 12 billion, of which Indian investments in Russia amount to $8 billion and Russian investments in India amount to $4 billion.