New Delhi, April 11: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday held discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Trade Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al Qassabi on ways to strengthen supply chains disrupted due to the West Asia crisis, after holding talks with his counterparts from the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait.
All these countries are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with which India is negotiating a free trade agreement.
The commerce ministry, in a statement, said that Goyal had a virtual call with Qassabi. “The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral trade and expressed optimism for early progress in the India-GCC FTA negotiations,” it said.
Both sides noted the strain conflict has put on regional supply chains and stressed the need for an early recovery through coordinated efforts to ensure smooth trade flows, it said.
Goyal highlighted India’s steps to support exports to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region.
The joint attack launched by the US and Israel on Iran had led to severe disruptions in the movement of ships in international waters, particularly to the West Asian nations.
The conflict has posed challenges for exporters to ship goods to the Gulf region, with which India had a bilateral trade of USD 178 billion in 2024-25 (USD 56.87 billion exports and USD 121.67 billion imports).
The major sectors which are under stress include petroleum products, chemicals and plastics, engineering goods, rice, pharma and gems and jewellery.
The six countries in this region are the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. (PTI)
