New Delhi, June 15 (IANS) India and the United States are set to intensify negotiations on a proposed interim trade agreement with senior officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), scheduled to visit New Delhi on June 23-24 for high-level discussions aimed at finalising the first tranche of the deal, a senior government official said on Monday.

Speaking at the monthly trade data briefing, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said the USTR delegation will hold talks with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and senior Indian officials during the visit.

“Our expectation is discussion will be centred around giving final touches to the first tranche of the deal as well as the larger Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) that has been under discussion,” Agrawal said.

According to him, the discussions are expected to focus not only on concluding the interim agreement but also on advancing negotiations on the broader BTA being worked out between the two countries.

The visit comes after a round of talks held here earlier in the month, when a USTR delegation engaged with Indian officials on various aspects of the proposed trade pact.

Following those discussions from June 2-4, the government had said both sides deliberated on trade in goods, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, economic security alignment, and other areas of mutual interest.

India and the US had earlier issued a joint statement in February, outlining a framework for an interim agreement based on reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade.

Moreover, the framework reaffirmed the commitment of both countries to continue negotiations on a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement.

Earlier in June, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said the proposed India-US trade agreement was 99 per cent there, with only a few remaining issues left to be resolved.

According to him, officials from both sides are actively engaged in discussions and are committed to concluding the agreement, which he described as a “win-win” outcome for India and the United States.

The upcoming USTR visit is expected to provide fresh momentum to the negotiations and help both sides move closer to finalising the trade deal.

–IANS

ag/na