India is set to formalise a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union for deepening trade relations with the five former Soviet republics.
Key Fact
- The joint statement on the FTA is likely to be issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at St. Petersburg.
- The Joint Feasibility Study Group had been accepted by both sides and the formal negotiations would begin by July.
- The FTA is expected to open up with a trade potential of $37 to 62 billion.
- Trade between India and the five Eurasian countries stands at about $11 billion.
- Eurasian market could open up new export opportunities in medical tourism, IT and IT-enabled services, besides traditional sectors like spices, marine products, coir and rubber.
Eurasian Economic Union
- Comprises of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
- It came into force on 1 January 2015.
- Eurasian Economic Union has an integrated single market of 183 million people and a gross domestic product of over 4 trillion U.S. dollars (PPP).
- Provisions for a single currency and greater integration are envisioned in future.
- The EAEU introduces the free movement of goods, capital, services and people and provides for common policies in macroeconomic sphere, transport, industry and agriculture, energy, foreign trade and investment, customs, technical regulation, competition and antitrust regulation.
Source : The Hindu
GS II : Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests