India's bilateral trade with Israel, Austria, Eurasia, Gulf on the decline

India's bilateral trade with Israel, Austria, Eurasian countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Gulf countries has been declining over the last three years. In 2015-16 the bilateral trade between these nations declined by as high as 34.06%, while in 2014-15 it declined by 11%.

The Eurasian countries include Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, and the Gulf countries include Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Baharain and Qatar.

In 2013-14 bilateral trade between these countries stood at US$1,64,498.34, according to Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS). While in 2014-15 the bilateral trade between these countries declined to US$1,48,185.05 million, and further declined $1,10,529.81 million in 2015-16.

“Currently, the Department of Commerce is negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Israel. The eighth round was held in Israel from 24-26 November, 2013 wherein discussions took place on market access in goods, rules of origin, custom procedures and trade in services,” said Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.