India is stepping up its global economic outreach, with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal and commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal set to visit six major economies — the US, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and Chile — in the coming weeks, people aware of the development said.
In the second leg of her journey, Sitharaman is expected to attend the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) meeting in Asheville on August 31-September 1. Later, in the last week of September, Goyal is scheduled to visit the US and attend the G20 trade ministerial meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, starting on September 30. The commerce minister is leading a 200-strong industry delegation during his Japan visit. Japan is India’s fifth-largest source of foreign direct investment, with more than 1,400 Japanese firms operating in the country. India and Chile already have had a preferential trade agreement (PTA) for 20 years, and they are now negotiating a wider trade deal as a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).
Goyal’s four-day Japan visit from Monday is aimed at strengthening trade and investment ties between the two countries, they said. India and Japan are working to boost and balance bilateral trade by leveraging the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), they added.
