Govt working on bilateral trade pacts to push exports: Prabhu

MUMBAI: Given the rising challenge to the free trade, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said Sunday that while the aim is to open up more for free trade and make WTO more efficient, the government is also keen to work on bilateral trade with more nations.

"One of the big challenges before the world is protectionism. We as a country are supporting open trade with all the countries .... but we also want to develop bilateral trade agreements with many countries. For each of the geographies we are keen to have free trade agreements with the countries in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia," he said, adding that New Delhi already has trade pacts with ASEAN and some other countries.

Addressing a CII event, he also said there has been an ongoing discussion with Sri Lanka for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).