New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) India and the European Union (EU) have decided to accelerate efforts to advance the negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), with the next round scheduled to begin here on May 12, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday.

Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce L Satya Srinivas said that the tenth round of talks focused on areas like market access offers in goods, services, investment and government procurement.

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"Both sides have agreed to accelerate efforts to advance the negotiations," he told reporters here.

The 11th round is scheduled from May 12-16.

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On the India-UK trade pact, he said both teams are working to resolve the pending issues.

Further, he said that negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between India and South American nation Chile was launched on April 1.

Chile is the fifth largest trading partner of India in the LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) region with bilateral trade in goods at USD 3.59 billion during April-February 2024-25.

With Peru, the Indian team concluded the seventh round of talks earlier this month.

This will be the first FTA of the country in the LAC region.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)