Bilateral Updates

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between India and the United Kingdom will come into force from July 15 with both sides reaching an understanding on the last-leg issues around Britain’s steel safeguard measures. The date for Entry into Force (EIF) of the agreement was announced by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their meeting on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit at Evian in France.

India and South Korea signed defence cooperation agreements on Wednesday during the visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Seoul. Singh met South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-back to discuss collaboration in maritime security, emerging technologies, military exchanges, logistics and regional security, among other areas.

India and South Korea are expected to hold negotiations on May 25 regarding the review of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), which was implemented in January 2010, an official said. The deliberations are important as India has suggested Korea to consider negotiating a fresh bilateral trade agreement to make it more contemporary and address concerns of the trade deficit. Last month, in a bilateral meeting here, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal made the suggestion to negotiate a fresh FTA to his Korean counterpart Yeo Han-koo.