India is set to sign three major trade deals with the United Arab Emirates, UK and Australia by 2022, and is set to sign early harvest trade deals separately with the three countries , said three people familiar with the development.

The government has set aggressive timetables for the agreements as part of its ambitious goal of $ 500 billion exports by March 2023 – formalizing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the United Arab Emirates from here in early 2022, a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK by next year and an interim trade deal with Australia by December. These will be followed a year later by a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA), residents said on condition of anonymity.

Negotiations with the United Arab Emirates are on a fast track. The first round of talks was held on September 23-24 in New Delhi during the visit of UAE Minister of State for Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi. “The goal is to sign a formal CEPA in March 2022,” one person said.

“The two sides are seriously considering negotiating and concluding a CEPA in accordance with the determination of the leaders of the two countries,” added a second person. “The two sides are closely linked and are working towards concluding this agreement, which will complement the India-UAE strategic partnership.”

The agreement is expected to increase bilateral trade in goods to $ 100 billion and trade in services to $ 15 billion in five years. The United Arab Emirates was India’s third-largest trading partner with around $ 59.1 billion in bilateral trade in 2019-2020, a period largely without Covid.

Top Indian exports to the UAE include refined petroleum products, minerals, grains, sugar, fruits, vegetables, tea, meat, seafood, textiles, engineering, machinery and chemicals. It imports petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals, stones, jewelry, minerals, chemicals and wood products.

“India and UK plan to launch FTA negotiations from next month in two stages – fruits at hand (early trade deal) by March 2022 as a priority, followed by a deal global, ”said a third person. The tentative timeline for the FTA and other trade issues was set during talks between Trade Minister Piyush Goyal and UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss last month.

The two countries also agreed to quickly finalize the terms of reference so that negotiations can be launched in November, he said, adding that rapid progress was seen after the announcement of an “enhanced trade partnership” by the Prime Ministers of the two countries in May.

India has also relaunched ECSC negotiations with Australia, which has enormous potential, the first person quoted earlier said.

“The long-standing FTA negotiations with Australia are expected to be concluded by 2022 and an agreement could be signed afterwards,” he said. Australia and India launched negotiations for an ECSC in May 2011, but talks were suspended in September 2015 after nine rounds due to differences on certain multilateral issues.

Negotiations between the two countries were “relaunched in June last year and an aggressive timetable” was agreed at the meeting of the joint India-Australia ministerial committee between Goyal and his Australian counterpart Dan Tehan on September 30, a. he declared.

Tehan said the goal is to put in place an interim agreement covering goods, services, investments, rules of origin, phytosanitary measures for fruits and vegetables and mutual recognition of qualifications by December of. this year, which will be followed by a final deal in December 2022. He said both sides are expected to make market access offers by the end of October.

“It’s going to be a challenge. These things are not easy, ”Tehan said, acknowledging Indian concerns in areas such as dairy and agriculture. Market access offers will be a “difficult” aspect requiring hard work on both sides, he said.

Although both sides will have to compromise, Australia can offer investment and technology to boost food and agricultural processing in India, Tehan said. Australia is also ready to deal fairly with the issue of domestic subsidies in agriculture, he added.

India has set an ambitious export target of 450-500 billion dollars by the next fiscal year and early harvest agreements, as well as full FTAs, will play a major role in achieving this target, said The first person. Besides the three most promising FTAs, New Delhi is negotiating trade deals with other countries and blocs. They include Oman, Canada, the European Union, Russia, and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland.

Speaking at a mid-term review meeting of the Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) on Saturday, Goyal called on bodies to raise trade-related concerns in those countries so that the government can address them when negotiation of individual FTAs. He said these issues were mainly related to market access rather than tariffs.

Goyal said India was on the right track, with exports reaching $ 197 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year. “Our exporters made all Indians proud today,” he said in a statement, adding “if we can aim to increase exports by $ 450 billion to $ 500 billion next year.”

Nilaya Varma, co-founder and CEO of consulting firm Primus Partners, said: “The UAE, UK and Australia are three key economies and India’s former allies. Trade negotiations with them for goods and services have progressed very well and signs of early harvest agreements are visible, which will ultimately lead to full FTAs. It is a win-win situation for India and its partners.

Meanwhile, Trade Minister Goyal met ministers from at least 15 countries on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 trade ministers meeting in Sorrento, Italy, a government spokesperson said.

He clarified India’s trade position and initiated bilateral and multilateral negotiations with ministers from the US, UK, EU, Brazil, China, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Canada, South Korea and Mexico, among others, the official said.

During the meetings, Goyal also affirmed India’s position for the forthcoming Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be held in November in Geneva, Switzerland. Goyal said the multilateral trade agreement must be “fair and equitable” and that “historic wrongs against developing countries must be corrected” rather than postponed, the official quoted above said.