India seeks more tariff concessions from Chile during talks for further
expansion of the India-Chile Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
On Tuesday, officials from both countries met in New Delhi for the first
round of talks for further expanding the India-Chile PTA and issues relating
to trade in goods, SPS/TBT, Customs, Rules of Origin etc under the existing
PTA. Also, the two countries talked about further expansion of the PTA for
inclusion of more tariff lines/ increasing Margin of Preference (MoP).
As Chile is the founding member of the Pacific Alliance to which India is an
observer member, further expansion of the PTA is expected to strengthen
relations between them and enhance India’s engagement with the emerging
trade bloc.
Diplomatic sources confirmed to Financial Express Online that during talks
between President Ramnath Kovind and President Sebastián Piñera in
Santiago earlier this month the two sides had underlined the importance of
holding the Second Joint Administration Committee (JAC) to review the
implementation of the India-Chile PTA and to explore new opportunities for
a broader and more comprehensive agreement.
Under the current expanded expanded PTA, India has increased tariff
concessions to Chile from 178 tariff lines to 1031 tariff lines and Chile’s
concession to India have increased from 296 tariff lines to 1784 tariff lines at
8-digit HS code 2012.
The expansion of the India-Chile was signed in 2017 which substantially
increased the bilateral trade between the two countries. Earlier this month
the leaders of both sides had emphasized the need to continue working on it
and exploring new opportunities for expansion of bilateral trade.
Presently, Chile offers duty concessions on as many as 1,798 goods to Indian
exporters compared to 178 items earlier. And India has offered concessions
to Chile on 1,031 products as against 296 earlier, at 8-digit level with MoP
ranging from 10-100 per cent.A PTA between India and Chile was earlier signed on March 8, 2006, and
came into force from August 2007. In the original PTA concluded in March
2006, India had offered 178 tariff lines with the MoP ranging from 10-50 per
cent at 8-digit level and Chile’s offer list consisted of 296 tariff lines with MoP
ranging from 10-100 per cent at the 8-digit level.
Products on which Chile has offered tariff concessions include agricultural
products, organic and inorganic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastic &
rubber articles, textiles, apparel, articles of iron/steel & copper, machinery
and equipment.
Source: The Financial Express, India Thursday, 02 May 2019