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Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal will undertake a three-nation visit to South America from August 24-28, government sources said on Sunday.
The visit is expected to deepen India's trade engagement with the region. During the visit, Agrawal will chair joint trade committee meetings with Brazil and Argentina, before travelling to Chile to advance talks on upgrading the India-Chile Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) into a full Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Officials indicated the Chile FTA negotiations are at an advanced stage, with only a few outstanding issues left to resolve. "This is an effort to see how far we can move, because the idea is we are very close. There are only a few issues which are left to be resolved," a government source said. The sticking points largely revolve around market access and critical minerals. "The issues are related to market access and also some critical minerals; we are trying to see where we can balance these two discussions," the source added. While Chile is pushing for deeper access to the Indian market, India is seeking greater engagement on critical minerals from the resource-rich nation. South America is increasingly being viewed by New Delhi as a key market for trade diversification. Sources said India is also keen to engage with the MERCOSUR bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia for an expanded PTA, with terms of reference for the arrangement currently under discussion. (ANI)
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