EFTA[17] has concluded bilateral agreements with the following countries – including dependent territories – and blocs: India has not avoided efforts towards “balanced” trade agreements, despite a new emphasis on autonomy, and discussions with important partners, including the US, the EU and Australia, will gain momentum as soon as the impact of the pandemic has significantly diminished, an official source told the FE. List of agreements between two states, two blocs or one bloc and one state. Earlier this year, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Piyush Goyal, held bilateral meetings with the European Commissioner for Trade, Phil Hogan, Graciela Márquez Colín, Minister of Economy of Mexico, Ebrahim Patel, South African Minister of Trade, and Mr. Makihara Hideki, Japan`s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, to improve bilateral trade prospects. It had sought a “limited” agreement with the United States, which had been under development for several months, and a broader free trade agreement (FTA) after the presidential elections in November. Although discussions on the India-EFTA BTIA began in 2008, they were frozen shortly after the start of the BTIA negotiations between India and the EU in 2013, due to differences of opinion on a number of issues. Discussions resumed in 2016, but no significant progress was made due to persistent divergences in areas such as IPRs, services and rules of origin. It is important that the economic survey for 2019-20 highlighted that free trade agreements are generally beneficial for India. Between 1993 and 2018, India`s exports of industrial products grew by an annual average of 13.4 percent annually to partners with whom it has trade agreements, and such imports increased by 12.7 percent, it said.
In comparison, total exports of goods increased by an average of 10.9% during this period and imports by 8.6%. The People`s Republic of China has concluded bilateral trade agreements with the following blocs, countries and their two special administrative regions:[13] The WTO has forecast a contraction in world trade of 13 to 32% in 2020 and economic growth is expected to reach its lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. These will weigh on India, with GJ21 analysts predicting a gdp decline of up to 6.8% ahead of a smart recovery next year, in part due to a favourable base.