India's FTA Negotiation SOP: Ready by Year-End

New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI) The standard operating procedure (SOP) document for negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) is expected to be ready by the end of this year, an official said on Thursday.

The official said that it is an internal document which aims to standardise the processes of negotiations of these pacts.

The commerce ministry is formulating the document and it would seek "guidance" from higher authorities also on this for any changes if required.

It has been circulated informally to 17 ministries, including agriculture, labour and environment, for their views as FTA negotiation is a multi-ministerial exercise.

"Our target is this year. We would like to have the 2024 version. It will be reviewed after every 2-3 years," the official said, adding that the objective is to document "our process of negotiations so that whatever learning we are having of different FTA negotiations, we are able to document those".

It will also include the best practices which gives "best out-comes" so that whenever somebody is doing these negotiations in the future, he/she is able to refer to it.

The government officers are mobile, so "we need to document those learnings in the form of SOP," the official said, adding that its an internal document for the ministry and it has nothing to do with FTA content or quality.

The European Union, Australia and international organisations have their SOPs for negotiations.

To discuss the various aspects of these agreements, the commerce ministry has organised a two-day 'Chintan Shivir' on FTA strategy and SOPs for trade negotiations on May 16-17.

The exercise assumes significance as India is engaging with several trade partners to negotiate free trade pacts.

In the Chintan Shivir, various issues were discussed, including India's trade strategy and vision 2047; economic assessment and modelling of FTAs; inclusion of new disciplines into FTAs such as labour, environment, gender, and indigenous people; services and digital trade; and SOPs for FTA negotiations.

A separate session was also organised on leveraging India's FTAs to address new forms/kinds of measures like CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism), supply chain disruptions, critical minerals and Artificial Intelligence.

India is negotiating trade pacts with the UK, the EU (European Union), Peru, and a comprehensive trade deal with Australia. It is also in talks with the Eurasian Economic Union for a trade agreement.

The country has inked trade pacts with Mauritius, the UAE, Australia and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) since 2021.