India, Spain look to ease trade curbs, Goyal woos Italian cos with eye on EU FTA

New Delhi, April 14

Bilateral economic and trade relations between India and Spain are set to climb a higher trajectory with both sides seeking considerable progress in the ongoing India-European Union Free Trade Agreement negotiations during the upcoming Spanish Presidency of EU, even as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal sought a “fair, equitable FTA between India and the EU during his meeting with Adolfo Urso, Italy Minister for Enterprises with India’s USD 770 billion export harvest in 2022-23, being seen as springboard for mutually beneficial deals.

On the home turf Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal and Secretary of State for Trade, Government of Spain Xiana Mendez took up various market access issues faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve the same through bilateral discussions during the 12th Session of India-Spain Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation (JCEC) on 13 April, 2023. The visit of Xiana Mendez marks the Golden Jubilee edition of India-Spain Joint Commission mechanism which was established in 1972 and comes amidst India’s G20 presidency, the Commerce Ministry said on Friday. Spain is India´s sixth largest trading partner within the EU and in terms of exports, India is the fourth largest destination country in Asia for Spain. With an investment of USD 3.7 billion, 250 Spanish companies are active in India while 40 Indian companies are present in Spain across sectors such as IT, pharma, renewable energy, automobiles, infrastructure among others.

While digital infrastructure, climate action, clean energy transition and sustainable development are some key areas on which they have agreed to collaborate, further expansion of ties is on the anvil with the Spanish side reaffirming more cooperation in civil aviation such as automation, surveillance and NavAids and in high-speed railways, railways networking, signalling, traffic management etc. Both sides have also agreed for further cooperation in the field of shipping, ports, tourism, infrastructure, food processing, pharmaceuticals, technology, innovation, and defence sector.

Goyal, who has been visiting France and Italy this week, discussed a range of opportunities for trade and investment in India with Urso in Rome on Thursday. The elevation of bilateral relations to strategic partnership during the recent visit of Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni to India has opened up new potential in bilateral cooperation, underlined by a 55 per cent growth in the overall exports in the last 2 years and about 700 Italian companies operating in India. The Minister also highlighted India’s shift to international trade in Rupee which will help reduce transaction costs for the industry. The RBI and finance ministry have asked banks and representatives of trade bodies to push export and import transactions in the rupee and want banks in India to connect with their foreign counterparts for opening special rupee vostro accounts to facilitate cross-border trade in the Indian currency.

Chairman and Managing Director, ITC Sanjiv Puri feels the signing of India-EU FTA could be a catalyst for further enhancing India Italy relationship. President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations A Saktivel points out that with such an export performance, India could be an export hub for Italy and offered support to Italian establishments in India.