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Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, has constituted a Free Trade Area (FTA) Cell in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce) to deal with representations of domestic industry regarding adverse impact, if any, of FTAs on specific sectors and also, suggestions for amendments to agreements on Free Trade Areas in terms of either inclusion or exclusion of items of concern to domestic industry. Representations are generally received from industry in the event of a surge in imports which may impact on segments of domestic industry. The Cell is headed by Shri G.K. Pillai, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce.
At present, India has a full-fledged FTA with Sri Lanka. There is a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) amongst the 7 SAARC countries which is in the process of being transformed into an FTA called SAFTA to be fully effective from 1st January, 2006. An Early Harvest Programme has been signed identifying common list of items for exchange of tariff concessions as a first step towards establishing a Free Trade Area between India and Thailand. India is also currently negotiating FTAs or comprehensive economic cooperation agreements with Singapore and the ASEAN as well as with the MERCOSUR countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) and SACU – a grouping of 5 South African countries lead by South Africa known as the South Africa Customs Union.
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