Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], June 5 (ANI): India and the United States are on track to execute the first tranche of their bilateral trade agreement by the middle of July. Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal confirmed the timeline while speaking to the media during a press conference after the National Workshop on Seafood Exports in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

He noted that trade officials from both nations are currently wrapping up discussions to finalise the early phase of the deal, which aims to secure preferential market access for Indian exporters ahead of regional competitors.

The development follows intensive, consecutive rounds of trade negotiations held in the national capital this week.

'We had excellent discussions from the 2nd to the 4th of this month,' Goyal said. 'We had a full team of officials from different divisions of trade from the USA in Delhi. I also met with them yesterday, and we are fast-moving towards closing all the open ends, and I think by sometime by the middle of next month or so we should be in a position to execute a very, very vibrant first tranche.'

The commerce minister indicated that further high-level engagements will take place in the coming weeks to solidify the remaining components of the initial trade package.

'It is only the first tranche of our bilateral trade agreement, which will give preferential access to India over our competitors,' Goyal said. 'While we finalise the dates, I expect even a higher level of delegation to be coming to India, probably towards the end of this month.'

Earlier, during his address at the seafood workshop, Goyal highlighted the long-term expansion of India's marine export sector, contrasting domestic trade growth against global averages over the last decade. He noted that India's seafood outbound shipments rose substantially from their baseline ten years ago.

'India used to export in the year 2013-14 about USD 5 billion worth of fish, USD 5 billion,' Goyal said. 'By 31st March, we have exported USD 8.5 billion of marine products. That's 70% growth.'

According to data cited by the minister, international trade in the fisheries sector stood at approximately USD 150 billion dollars in 2014 and reached USD 164 billion dollars by 2024, representing a 10 per cent rate of global growth.

Despite a brief worldwide spike to the USD 185-195 billion dollar range during 2022 and 2023, global trade momentum remained modest over the ten years.

'That is the India growth story. That is the potential that all of you bring to the table,' Goyal said. (ANI)