India holds bilateral meetings with EU, Russia, NZ, others on MC14 sidelines

New Delhi: Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal Thursday held bilateral talks with the EU, Russia, New Zealand, Peru and Mexico on the sidelines of the ongoing 14th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO MC14) to advance trade agenda and issues related to the trade deals with the respective economies.

In his meeting with members of the European Parliament delegation led by Bernd Lange, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, the discussions focused on key issues related to the WTO, including the need for institutional reforms and the future direction of global trade frameworks.

“Both sides also deliberated on the way forward following the recent conclusion of negotiations on the proposed India-European Union Free Trade Agreement,” the commerce department said in a social media post on X.


Agrawal also had a “constructive discussion” with Sabine Weyand, DG Trade at the European Commission, wherein an exchange of views on the MC14 agenda and a review of progress on the work underway towards the signing of the recently concluded India–EU FTA, took place.

He also met Nikolai Platonov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the WTO, where the two sides discussed bilateral issues and reforms at the multilateral body while during his meeting with Cesar Augusto Llona Silva, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade of Peru, the discussions focused on strengthening trade ties and ongoing negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement and enhancing bilateral trade through cooperation in potential sectors.

Discussions focused on the progress of work underway towards the signing of the recently concluded India–New Zealand FTA, exchange of views on the MC14 agenda and enhancing bilateral trade, investment, and cooperation in key sectors in the meeting with Vangelis Vitalis, Deputy Secretary (Trade and Economic), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand.

In another meeting, he held talks with Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, Undersecretary of Foreign Trade of Mexico, to discuss challenges faced by businesses, and explored a forward-looking roadmap for their early resolution besides ways to strengthen trade and investment ties between the two countries.