Limited trade deal with Mauritius gets green light

The Cabinet has approved the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) between India and Mauritius to encourage and improve trade between the two countries.

This is a limited agreement that will cover trade in goods, rules of origin, trade in services, technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, dispute settlement, movement of persons, telecom, financial services, customs procedures and cooperation in other areas. The CECPA will be the first trade agreement to be signed by India with a country in Africa, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar said.

The agreement covers 310 export items, including foodstuff and beverages (80 lines), agricultural products (25 lines), textile and textile articles (27 lines), base metals and articles thereof (32 lines), electricals and electronic item (13 lines), plastics and chemicals (20 lines), wood and articles thereof (15 lines), among others.

Mauritius will benefit from preferential market access into India for its 615 products, including frozen fish, speciality sugar, biscuits, fresh fruits, juices, mineral water, beer, alcoholic beverages, soaps, bags, medical and surgical equipment, and apparel, Javdekar said.

As regards trade in services, Indian service providers will have access to around 115 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors. Meanwhile, India has offered around 95 sub-sectors from the 11 broad services sectors, he said. Both sides have also agreed to negotiate an Automatic Trigger Safeguard Mechanism (ATSM) for some highly sensitive products within two years of the signing of the agreement.

Mauritius is an important development partner of India. India had extended a ‘special economic package’ of $353 million to it in 2016.

Mauritius will benefit from preferential market access into India for 615 products