Israel: India next goal for free-trade agreement
Globes | 16 December 2007
India next goal for free-trade agreement
Israel is due to sign a free-trade agreement with Mercosur this week, and is considering an agreement with Russia.
Yael Gross-Englander
Sources inform ’’Globes’’ that the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor has asked the Indian government to review a free-trade agreement with Israel that will encompass both goods and services. The Indian government has set up a team of experts to conduct the review.
Ministry of Industry Foreign Trade Administration director Boaz Hirsch told "Globes", "As a small country, we must build infrastructure for the next ten years, during which India is expected to become even more important.
Israel is due to sign a free-trade agreement with Mercado Común del Sur (Mercosur) (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). The Mercosur trade bloc has an aggregate GDP of $1.2 billion and a population of 240 million. The Ministry of Industry predicts that the agreement will greatly boost bilateral trade above the current $1.1 billion.
The ministry is also examining whether a free-trade agreement with Russia is worthwhile.
Israel is a pioneer in free-trade agreements. It was the first country to have a free-trade agreement with both the US and the EU, and also has an agreement with Mexico. The agreement with Mercosur will be the bloc’s first agreement outside South America.
