Department of Commerce has bilateral institutional mechanism with several countries including its neighboring countries, except with Pakistan, under which discussions on trade, investment and economic issues are held at mutual convenience. Various such bilateral meetings have been held in last four years, in which the trade, investment and economic issues of mutual interest such as strengthening of border trade infrastructure, technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, cooperation in customs, facilitation of trade through railways, land and sea ports, harmonization of standards, etc have been discussed from time to time.  Resolution of these issues and implementation of various projects and programs of mutual interests has yielded positive outcomes which is reflected in India’s increasing total trade with these countries i.e from USD 112.15 billion in the year 2017-18 to USD 135.77 billion in April 2021- Feb 2022(Provisional).

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

Bilateral trade mechanisms expand cooperation on trade facilitation, standards, customs and border infrastructure to boost mutual commerce. Department of Commerce maintains bilateral institutional mechanisms with several neighbouring countries (excluding Pakistan) to discuss trade, investment and economic issues, focusing on trade facilitation topics such as border trade infrastructure, TBT, SPS measures, customs cooperation, transport and port facilitation, and harmonization of standards; implementation of projects under these mechanisms has yielded positive outcomes reflected in increased aggregate trade.