NEW DELHI: India and Canada concluded the third round of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) late last week (July 6-10), with notable progress being made across issues. Both the countries are hopeful of concluding the negotiations by the end of 2026.
Once the agreement is reached, bilateral trade is expected to be double to $50 billion by 2030.
“The discussions witnessed positive progress across multiple negotiating tracks, reaffirming the shared commitment of both countries to conclude the negotiations in 2026, in line with the vision of the leaders,” the Department of Commerce posted on ‘X’.
Detailed discussions were held across a wide range of chapters, including trade in goods and services, intellectual property, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers.
The first round of talks was held in March after finalisation of the terms of reference. The next round took place in May and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal visited Canada with a big business delegation. He met Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu and foreign minister Anita Anand to give a push to the process.
It is the third attempt by the countries to negotiate the CEPA. Negotiations first started in 2010 but could not yield much progress.
India and Canada gave another shot in March 2022. However, talks collapsed in August-September of 2023 due to political differences. They were back on track after Carney was elected as the prime minister of Canada in March last year.
Goods and services trade stood at $23.66 billion in 2024, with merchandise trade valued at nearly $8.98 billion, and the rest coming from services. In 2025-26m India’s goods exports to Canada grew 10.63% to $4.67 billion while imports fell 26.12% to $3.28 billion.
India primarily exports pharmaceutical products, electronic goods, jewellery, gems & precious stones, seafood (shrimps), engineering goods and auto parts to Canada. Major imports include minerals, pulses, potash, paper and paperboard, wood pulp, iron and aluminum scrap and gemstones.
While FDI from Canada stands at $4.34 billion, portfolio investments have crossed $75 billion.
Source: The Financial Express
