An Indian commerce ministry team will soon visit Washington for another round of talks with the US for a proposed trade pact, a government official said on Thursday.
The official said that negotiations will happen on both interim and the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) during this visit.
The visit dates have not yet been finalised. However, sources are saying that the team is expected to visit Washington next week.
Earlier this month, the Indian team led by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, returned from Washington after concluding talks on the pact.
This visit is significant as the US has further extended the imposition of additional import duties (in case of India it is 26 per cent) till August 1.
India is trying to negotiate and finalize a trade agreement with the US, Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal said.
The aim is to conclude the first phase of this pact by fall (September-October) of this year. Before that, the two countries are looking to finalise an interim trade agreement.
Agrawal said that India has so far implemented more than 14 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with 26 countries.
"Now we are integrating with major markets also... we just concluded an agreement with the UK, we are in an advanced stage of negotiations with the European Union, we are trying to negotiate and finalize a deal with the USA," he said here at an event on export logistics.
India, he said, is also negotiating trade pacts with Latin American countries including Chile and Peru.
"We have done (trade pact) with Australia and UAE. We are in negotiations with New Zealand... So, the idea is that we are also integrating in a big way with the major trading partners and major economies," he added.
With inputs from agencies