Minister: India-Oman FTA Almost Finalised

India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, announced on Saturday that a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Oman is ‘almost finalised’. He added that negotiations with several other key global economies – including the European Union, the United States, Peru, and Chile – are also progressing rapidly.

“We are in negotiations at an advanced stage with Oman. It is almost finalised,” Goyal said at a press conference in New Delhi, as reported by ANI.

Earlier in June, Goyal had stated that India and Oman were close to concluding a Free Trade Agreement, with some ‘good news’ expected soon regarding its signing.

The negotiations for the agreement, officially known as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), formally began in November 2023.

Goyal also mentioned that India’s FTAs with the European Union, the US, Peru, and Chile are making ‘fast progress’.

At the press conference, he highlighted a series of successful FTAs concluded by India in recent years with developed nations, including Mauritius, Australia, and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) bloc – comprising Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland.

“The Free Trade Agreement between India and the UK, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, clearly reflects the growing relevance and importance of India on the world stage,” Goyal said. “The goods and services that India provides to the world are of high quality and cost-competitive.”

Oman is India’s third-largest export destination among the GCC countries. India already has a similar agreement in place with another GCC member, the United Arab Emirates, which came into effect in May 2022.

India’s key imports from Oman include petroleum products and urea, which together account for over 70% of total imports. Other significant imports include polymers of propylene and ethylene, petroleum coke, gypsum, chemicals, and iron and steel.