According to a release from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, these meetings had focused discussions on several key areas aimed at promoting bilateral trade and cooperation, marking an important moment in strengthening economic ties and fostering collaboration between the two nations, building upon the existing close ties through people to people and business contacts.
The delegation was led by the Commerce Secretary, Sunil Barthwal. It was the 11th Joint Trade Committee meeting between the two countries.
The release further highlights, key areas of focus were progress on market access issues, economic cooperation projects, and the exploration of new initiatives. The establishment of robust bilateral economic dialogue architecture and the creation of working groups on sectors such as Agriculture, Food Processing, Storage & Transportation, Forestry, and Pharmaceuticals were also discussed.
The release reads “the meetings addressed bilateral trade matters of mutual interest, including issues related to market access, non-tariff barriers (NTBs), and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures on products like grapes, okra and mangoes, Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) in Organic products, simplified homologation including through mutual recognition of comparable domestic standards for vehicles, etc”.
The services sector emerged as a focal point during the discussions, with a strong emphasis on increasing business-to-business and people-to-people contacts. Collaboration in areas such as hospitality, nursing, tele-medicine, education, and air connectivity was highlighted, along with efforts to address skill gaps through capacity building.
