India is advancing negotiations across multiple regions, with a free trade agreement with Chile nearing completion, Canada talks progressing and new discussions opening across Africa and South America.
India is moving ahead on a widening set of trade negotiations, with talks on a free trade agreement with Chile close to completion and discussions with Canada making steady progress, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said.
Speaking to reporters, Goyal said India’s trade diplomacy now stretches across several regions, including Africa, South America and West Asia, as New Delhi seeks to deepen market access and diversify commercial ties.
India has also started talks with the Southern African Customs Union, which includes Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. The two sides signed terms of reference in August to launch negotiations on a preferential trade agreement, signalling a formal start to a process that could broaden India’s commercial links in southern Africa.
In South America, Mexico has shown interest in an early harvest arrangement, while India wants to speed up discussions on expanding its existing preferential trade pact with Mercosur, the bloc made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The current India-Mercosur deal has been in force since 2009 and covers tariff concessions on hundreds of product lines on both sides, but officials are now reviewing ways to widen its scope.
Goyal also said Ecuador had indicated interest in an FTA, while Egypt and other African countries had approached India about possible trade cooperation. Negotiations with the Gulf Co-operation Council and Israel have slowed because of the conflict in West Asia, though India remains open to advancing them when conditions improve. India already has trade agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Oman, both key Gulf partners.
On the Eurasian Economic Union, Goyal said India was weighing the case for a goods-only pact, excluding services. India and the bloc signed terms of reference in August 2025 and held their first round of talks in November that year, according to his remarks.
He also expressed confidence that India would secure preferential access in its proposed bilateral trade agreement with the United States. The two countries announced a framework for the first phase of that deal in February, but the talks have continued after changes in US tariff policy complicated the broader negotiations.
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