Free Trade Agreement | Business Upturn

New talks begin to update China-Switzerland trade pact

Maaz Ismail Roshanali — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:50:47 +0000

On Saturday, April 18, 2026, China and Switzerland moved to fast-track an upgrade to their landmark 2014 Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This negotiation marks a strategic pivot for both nations, aiming to modernize a decade-old framework to better reflect the current digital economy and a more protectionist global landscape.

A Modern Commercial Overhaul

The upgrade seeks to expand the existing pact beyond simple goods and tariffs into more complex regulatory domains.

Expanded Scope: Negotiators are targeting “comprehensive coverage” in e-commerce, trade in services, and investment rules. For Switzerland, this modernization is a response to recent U.S. tariff pressures, seeking more predictable access to the Chinese market for its pharmaceutical, watchmaking, and precision engineering sectors.
Regulatory Alignment: The talks include dense technical updates to rules of origin and intellectual property, designed to simplify supply chain compliance for multinational firms operating in both jurisdictions.

Strategic and Diplomatic Weight

Beyond commerce, the deal carries significant geopolitical signaling. For Beijing, deepening ties with a major European economy serves as a counter-narrative to Western “de-risking” and decoupling efforts. For Switzerland, the upgrade reinforces its “neutral” yet resilient trade posture, ensuring it remains an essential bridge between East and West. The final agreement will provide the legal architecture necessary to manage digital trade and investment flows, though its completion will likely face heightened political scrutiny in Europe regarding environmental and labor standards.

India & UK to hold next round of trade talks in June aiming for early conclusion of negotiations

Viditha Ganji — Mon, 15 May 2023 16:45:20 +0000

India and the UK are set to hold their next round of talks for a proposed free trade agreement in June. The negotiations were launched in January 2021, covering 26 policy areas/chapters, including investment, which is being negotiated as a separate agreement. The tenth round of negotiation is scheduled for June 5-9, with both sides aiming to conclude the talks at the earliest.

Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Saranagi emphasized that trade negotiations are a matter of give and take, and elections in individual countries have nothing to do with it. While India is due to have general elections next year, Saranagi stated that the negotiations aim to be expedited, and both sides will make a substantial progress during the June talks.

So far, 13 chapters have been substantially closed for negotiations, and regular meetings have been held at higher levels to review the progress of talks and resolve outstanding issues. Both sides have also discussed modalities for exchange of offer in goods and services. The negotiations were set to conclude last year by Diwali, but were extended due to various reasons.

Investment is being negotiated as a separate agreement, a Bilateral Investment Treaty, which will be concluded simultaneously with the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA).

India’s commerce secretary and EU’s DG (Trade) will also meet in August to review the progress of the fifth round of talks for a trade pact between India and the European Union (EU), scheduled for June 19-23 in India. The fourth round of negotiations was completed in March, covering 21 policy areas in 74 technical sessions.

Regarding the India-Canada trade agreement, negotiations are at an advanced stage in goods and services market access, and the seventh round of talks was held in April. The interim agreement may cover areas like SMEs, trade and gender, environment, and labor. On the comprehensive India-Australia agreement, the 3rd and 4th round of negotiations are set to be held during 5th-16th June and 3rd-14th July, respectively, aiming for an early conclusion of the negotiations.

The second Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG) meeting of G20 is scheduled to be held on May 23-25 in Bengaluru. In dedicated technical sessions, G20 delegates will deliberate on priority on WTO reform, along with key deliverables on identified priority issues on trade for growth and prosperity, resilient global value chains, integrating MSMEs in global trade, and efficient logistics for trade. The meeting will set the stage for building consensus among G20 countries on deliverables and outcomes proposed by India on global trade and investment-related issues.

In conclusion, with the India-UK free trade agreement negotiations being expedited, we can expect significant progress during the June talks. The agreement would enhance trade relations between the two countries and provide opportunities for investment and economic growth. The talks with other countries also aim to strengthen India’s trade relations globally.

Here’s how by 2023, India & Australia will finish negotiations broadening their Free Trade Agreement

Sakshi Vats — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 17:07:17 +0000

In the most recent development, Australia and India reaffirmed their commitment to completing negotiations to broaden the current Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by year’s end with a goal of boosting bilateral commerce to USD 100 billion.

The subject came up during the meeting of the joint ministerial commission between Australian counterpart Don Farrell and Indian minister of trade and industry Piyush Goyal. Significantly, Farrell is travelling with Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, who is on his first official trip to India.

India and Australia previously adopted an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) on December 29, 2022, and are currently negotiating to expand the pact’s scope for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).

Addressing the media on India-Australia 18th Joint Ministerial Commission with my Australian counterpart, Don Farrell. https://t.co/gHcrX6vJSu

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 11, 2023

“ECTA was the first stage of our economic engagement. We are now entering into phase-2 of our discussions where we are looking at a much wider ambit of subjects and taking this into a CECA,” Goyal stated while addressing the media in New Delhi.

Albanese stated that both parties are looking at firming up the ambitious CECA by 2023 following the first India-Australia summit talks held here on March 10 on a variety of important matters. The two Prime Ministers gave the concerned officials a deadline of three months to hasten the conclusion of a Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement (MMPA), according to a joint statement.

On the date for the CECA negotiations’ conclusion, Goyal stated that although completing anything by a deadline is always “dangerous” because “you may land up making mistakes,” “we” must do things fast.

He claims that both trade ministers are dedicated to accelerating the negotiations.

Addressed media on India-Australia 18th Joint Ministerial Commission with my counterpart, Don Farrell.

Deliberated on ways to achieve outcomes of key agreements under ECTA that lead to mutual growth. 🇮🇳🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/fsEgdqBtqB

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 11, 2023

Both the Prime Ministers have “collectively tasked us to work towards closing the CECA negotiations within this calendar year. We would love to do that. We would work to engage in the same spirit as ECTA and hope for quick outcomes without compromising on its quality,” Goyal continued.

“We are very very dissatisfied” with the USD 30-billion bilateral trade and the officials of India and Australia have kept a target of USD 45-50 billion in the next five years. Both the ministers have expressed “unhappiness” towards the trade negotiators and said they “will be much more ambitious and aim for a USD 100-billion trade between the two economies”, Goyal stated.

(With inputs from PTI)

India-UK to conclude Free Trade Agreement by end of 2022

United News of India (UNI) — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 09:22:23 +0000

New Delhi, April 22: India and the United Kingdom have decided to conclude a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries by the end of this year. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a joint press conference with his United Kingdom counterpart Boris Johnson following delegation level talks in Hyderabad House on Friday. “We had launched an ambitious Roadmap 2030 to give direction to our relationship in this decade. In our conversation today, we reviewed the progress made in this roadmap, and set some targets for the times to come. “Teams of both countries are working on the Free Trade Agreement and good progress has been made in the negotiations. We have decided to conclude the FTA by the end of this year,” said Modi.

The Prime Minister said that in the last few months, India has concluded FTAs with the UAE and Australia. “At the same pace, with the same commitment, we would like to move forward on the FTA with the UK as well,” he said. Johnson said: “We are telling our negotiators to get the FTA done by Diwali.” Extending a warm welcome to Johnson, Modi called his visit “historic”.

“We have also agreed to enhance cooperation in the defense sector. We welcome the UK’s support for ‘Self-reliant India’ in all areas, including manufacturing, technology, design and development in the defense sector,” he said. India and the UK also reiterated their commitment on maintaining a free, open, inclusive and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. “We also discussed the many developments taking place at the regional and global level. We emphasized on maintaining a free, open, inclusive and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. India welcomes the UK’s decision to join the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative,” Modi said. Modi said the two leaders also discussed infrastructure modernization plan and the National Infrastructure Pipeline. “We welcome the growing investment in India by UK companies. And we got to see a great example of this yesterday in Halol in Gujarat.”

The Prime Minister said the conclusion of the implementation arrangements of the Global Innovation Partnership between the two countries will prove to be an important initiative. “This will further strengthen our development partnership with other countries. India and the UK will co-finance up to $100 million for transfer and scaling-up of ‘Made in India’ innovations to third countries,” he said.

He said that the two countries have decided to deepen climate and energy partnership. “We invite the UK to join India’s National Hydrogen Mission. I heartily welcome the establishment of Strategic Tech Dialogue between us,” Modi said. Russia’s war on Ukraine also featured in the talks between Modi and Johnson. The two leaders called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the problem. “We also reiterated the importance of respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries,” Modi said. The two countries reiterated their support for a peaceful, stable and secure Afghanistan and for an inclusive and representative government. Afghanistan should not be used to spread terrorism to other countries. Both Modi and Johnson said in the joint press conference.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Business Upturn staff. And is published from a syndicated feed.)

British Prime Minister to visit India soon over the Free Trade Agreement policy

Mymun Malik — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 05:45:32 +0000

With the ongoing India-UK Free Trade Agreement sessions, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to visit India by the end of March. The high-level meeting will focus on increasing and improvising India-UK bilateral ties.

Most probably the scheduled date is on April 22nd; his past visits to India had to be postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

As per the official statement released by the British Prime Minister’s office, “Last month Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Modi had spoken over a phone and decided to meet in person. And the British leadership always looked at India as an important ally, and we hope to increase and strengthen this bond by continuing our business, trade, and security. We eagerly await to meet in person to assure this bilateral tie strengthens over the coming decades.”

As per PTI, Boris Johnson’s office confirmed that he was looking forward to this meeting in India with Narendra Modi. Last year in November, Modi and Johnson met during the Climate Summit COP 26 in Glasgow. Their bilateral discussions focussed majorly on the India-UK climate partnership and a plan of action for the same to be reviewed in 2030 was signed over a virtual meeting in the month of May 2021

The climate partnership between the two countries aims to increase bilateral trade by 2030 and is part of an Indo-Pacific foreign policy plan.

Borish Johnson recently this year in January, during the launch of the Free Trade Agreement said, “We keep Indian ties close to our heart as India is one of the fastest-growing economies and it massively benefits the business scenario in the UK in terms of hiring top executives, skilled labour, and consumers. The UK without a doubt has superb businesses and absolute expertise from financial services to renewable technology to world-famous Scotch whisky distilleries. We wish to bank on the many opportunities presented by the growing economies of the Indo-Pacific zone to strengthen our bonds on international platforms and make the benefits reach home.”

The Indo-UK Free Trade Agreement’s 3rd round of discussions will be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India later this month, during the British Prime Minister’s visit.