Indian official team likely to visit Washington next week for trade talks

NEW DELHI, Apr 17: An Indian official team is likely to visit Washington next week to iron out differences on certain issues before formally launching negotiations for the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said.

The visit, which comes within weeks of a high-level US team visiting India, indicates that the talks for the BTA are gaining momentum.

India's chief negotiator, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal is expected to lead the team for the first in-person talks between the two countries.
The visit follows senior official-level talks held between the two countries last month here. Brendan Lynch, the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, was in India from March 25 to 29 for crucial trade discussions with Indian officials. �"PTI