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The India-Canada Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) being negotiated between the two countries will exclude all “difficult areas’’ such as labour, environment, intellectual property rights and digital trade so that a pact in the core areas of goods, services and investments can be wrapped up on time, sources have said.
“In the early harvest pact, India has managed to convince Canada to exclude areas that India has traditionally not been including in its FTAs such as labour, environment, IPR and digital trade. The areas where both sides stand to gain such as goods, services, and investments are all included,” a source tracking the matter told businessline.
The tentative year-end deadline for concluding the EPTA negotiations decided at the 6th India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade & Investment in May this year is likely to be met, the source added.
The excluded sectors will, however, be included in the full-fledged Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that will follow the EPTA. “India will be ready to negotiate non-trade areas such as labour and environment in the full-fledged CEPA as its own laws in most areas are advanced and it would not face issues taking on commitments in these areas,” the source added.
Bilateral trade
India-Canada bilateral trade in goods reached about $8.2 billion in 2022, registering a 25 per cent growth compared with 2021, per government figures. India hopes to make gains in areas such as textiles & apparels, pharmaceuticals and iron and steel among others, while Canada is interested in the dairy and agriculture sectors, including wine and spirits.
Following the sixth negotiating round in May, three more rounds have been held, the last one hosted in a virtual format by Canada from July 12-21. “Negotiations are moving very fast. There aren’t many troublesome areas left to be sorted out. Hopefully the two sides will conclude the talks before the year ends,” the source said.
Other areas being covered in the EPTA include rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement.
Canada is interested in the trade pact as it is keen to diversify its interests beyond China and the US while India is wanting to get into more FTAs with the developed countries to gain from complementarities that exists with these economies.
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