Piyush Goyal Holds Bilateral Meeting With EU Trade Commissioner In Cameroon

Cameroon, March 30 (TNA) On the sidelines of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Yaounde, Cameroon, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal held a bilateral meeting with EU Trade Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic.

Both sides exchanged views on MC-14 agenda, reviewed progress of the work underway on the signing of the recently concluded India-EU FTA as well as explored options for further enhancing bilateral trade & economic cooperation.

On the MC-14 agenda, Goyal and Sefcovic agreed on the necessity of WTO reforms. Goyal emphasised to his EU counterpart that the WTO reforms agenda should remain strictly member-driven. Goyal and Sefcovic also exchanged views on the issue of moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmission as well as incorporation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement.

Reviewing the progress of the work underway towards signing of the recently concluded India-EU FTA, Goyal appreciated the pragmatic approach taken by both sides which resulted in concluding the India-EU FTA negotiations in a timely and mutually beneficial manner.

Both Goyal and Sefcovic agreed that both sides should strive towards completing the necessary processes that can facilitate the signing of the India-EU FTA at the earliest, so that expected benefits from this FTA can be realised by businesses and citizens of India and EU.

Prior to the Ministerial bilateral, Commerce Secretary, Rajesh Agrawal also held a bilateral meeting with his EU counterpart, Sebine Weyand, DG-Trade, on the sidelines of MC-14.