Piyush Goyal to visit Switzerland to take forward investment commitments under India-EFTA deal

Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will be leaving for Switzerland this Sunday (July 14) to take forward commitments as part of India’s recently signed free trade agreement with the four-nation European bloc or EFTA. He also underlined that global firms are keen on investing in India and are partnering with domestic firms.   Addressing the National Executive Committee meeting of FICCI on Wednesday, Goyal said, “I am off to Switzerland on Sunday to take forward our commitment of $100 billion dollar FDI investment under the EFTA deal.” The commitment is only for foreign direct investments and not for foreign portfolio investments or equity investments.   The minister also underlined that India can withdraw concessions given under the trade deal if EFTA does not fulfil the investment commitments.   India and the four-nation European bloc of Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, and Liechtenstein had on March 10 this year, signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on March 10. As part of the agreement, EFTA has committed to promote investments to increase the stock of foreign direct investments by $100 billion in India in the next 15 years, and to facilitate the generation of 1 million direct employment in India through such investments.    “The excitement that I am finding in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland makes me believe that we could actually exceed that (commitment) if we all are more forthcoming. They will look for Indian partners and investors,” Goyal said.   Meanwhile, speaking to reporters on the sidelines, Goyal also underscored India’s commitment to continuing negotiations for the India-UK FTA with the new Labour Party government in the UK.   On the issue of contamination of Indian spices exports, the minister said that Indian exporters are conscious about quality standards and the problem of some spices consignments were very miniscule and should not be exaggerated.