India, Gulf Council agree to resume negotiations on free trade agreement: Piyush Goyal
Hindustan TimesIndia and the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to pursue a free trade agreement between the two regions and resume the negotiations, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. India's exports to the GCC member countries grew by 58.26 per cent to about USD 44 billion in 2021-22 against USD 27.8 billion in 2020-21, according to data from the commerce ministry. "We have agreed to pursue the free trade agreement between GCC and India and resume the negotiations and conclude the same at the earliest," Goyal told reporters here in a joint press conference with GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah M Al-Hajraf here. India's overall crude oil imports from the GCC in 2021-22 were about USD 48 billion, while LNG and LPG imports in 2021-22 stood at about USD 21 billion.