MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

India working to “upgrade” tariffs agreement with Mercosur

Indian Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma

India is working on “upgrading” the tariffs agreement with Mercosur, which could translate in more items of trade being included in the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) or move to free trade agreement with the LATAM countries.

“We are thinking of upgrading the coverage of items under PTA with Mercosur, which will help in increasing trade ... we will expand it and make it more comprehensive to create an economic linkage,” Indian Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma was quoted by the Indian press in Mumbai.

According to those reports teams from both sides have been meeting to develop a list of products to be included in the agreement, Minister of State for commerce and industry Jyotirditya Scindia had earlier said. He had mentioned that trade volume between Mercosur and India should reach 17 billion USD in 2012 and 30 billion USD by 2030.

The PTA agreement between India and Mercosur came into force in 2009 to create a free trade area. The agreement presently covers import and export of 452 products, which will eventually increase with special taxation.

The PTA is different from the free trade agreement (FTA).In FTA, the two sides reduce or eliminate duties on maximum number of products they trade in, whereas in PTA, the tariffs are not necessarily eliminated, but are lower in comparison with the countries not party to the agreement.