EFTA and India pursue negotiations on a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement

EFTA and India delegates

Following the clear political indications that have emerged in recent months through three Ministerial meetings, delegations from the EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) and India convened in New Delhi from 3 to 6 July 2023 to advance negotiations on a comprehensive Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA).

Ambassador Markus Schlagenhof, Delegate of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements and head of the World Trade Division at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, acted as the EFTA spokesperson, while L. Satya Srinivas, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, led the Indian delegation. 

Delegations continued their collaborative efforts at head and expert levels. The discussions primarily centred around the areas of trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin, intellectual property rights (IPR), and trade and sustainable development.

On the fringes of the negotiations, H.E. Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industry of India and the EFTA spokesperson met to carve the way forward for the coming months, reinforcing the significance of high-level political involvement in this process. 

Thanks to the unwavering commitment of our teams, the negotiations have progressed on an unprecedented scale, and significant headway has been made.

EFTA's detailed report on the round of negotiations is available here. 

Economic relations between the EFTA States and India

Over the past two decades, the total trade between the EFTA States and India has been growing steadily. In 2022, the combined EFTA-India merchandise trade surpassed USD 6.1 billion. The primary imports to the EFTA States consisted of organic chemicals (27.5%), while machinery (17.5%) and pharmaceutical products (11.4%), excluding gold, constituted the main exports to India. Furthermore, services trade and foreign direct investment have also reached substantial levels.

Read more about merchandise trade between EFTA and India here.