Agricultural Economics Research Review
  • Year: 2021
  • Volume: 34
  • Issue: 1

Indo-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IJCEPA): Lessons for India's access to agricultural markets

1Centre for WTO Studies, CRIT, IIFT, New Delhi

2Agricultural Economist, Dept. of Econ. & Socio., COBSH, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab

*Corresponding author: muralik@iift.edu

Online published on 29 September, 2021.

Abstract

India and Japan signed the Indo--Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2011 to liberalize and eliminate tariffs. India's exports increased, but the gains were limited only to fishery products. Non-tariff measures (NTM)-sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade-are applied on each tariff line; India's bilateral trade negotiation process should consider these NTMs. She should devise strategies to address it when it engages with a new trade partner in the FTA negotiations and then harmonise these barriers; understand the producers and processors in agriculture products; and encourage increased application of the WTO-compatible NTMs.

Keywords

Free trade agreement (FTA), Regional trade agreement (RTA), Tariff measure, NTM, Indo--Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IJCEPA), Balanced negotiations, Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measure, The technical barrier to trade (TBT), Agriculture products, Market access