India scouts for PTAs in Latin America & Caribbean region
Financial Express, India
India scouts for PTAs in Latin America & Caribbean region
ECONOMY BUREAU
16 July 2005
NEW DELHI, JULY 15: Encouraged by its successful preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Mercosur countries, India is trying to increase its influence in the Latin American and Caribbean region by exploring possibilities of PTAs with the Andean community, Chile and countries in the Central America Integration System (SICA).
Speaking to reporters at a round-table on doing business with Mercosur and Andean countries, ministry of external affairs secretary (West) S U Tripathi said that discussions were taking place at the joint commission level to examine the possibility of PTAs with the Andean community and SICA.
While SICA includes Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador, the Andean community comprises Colombia, Equador, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia.
India’s PTA with the Mercosur group, including Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, was notified in March this year. Ms Tripathi said that India would take a decision on going in for an FTA with Mercosur based on the outcome of the PTA. “If we see that the PTA has been beneficial for the Indian industry, we will certainly go in for an FTA which would be broader in scope,” she said.
The Mercosur-India PTA is based on fixed tariff preferences covering 950 items, 450 from each side. India has offered preferences in meat, shoes, electric machinery and apparatus. Mercosur has offered preferential tariffs for products, including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber. While the preference margin is mostly within 10%-20%, there are cases of 100%.
