India and Bahrain on Monday announced the start of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries and have decided to explore a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
This comes at a time when negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) are already in progress. The announcement was made in the joint statement issued after the Fifth High Joint Commission (HJC) between India and Bahrain on Monday.
The HJC was co-haired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani.
With the launch of CEPA talks, India has covered four of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with which it either has trade agreements or is negotiating.
Within the GCC, India signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Talks on for a CEPA with Oman are in final stages while for a similar agreement with Qatar talks are in progress. This leaves out only Saudi Arabia and Kuwait with which no bilateral trade agreement is being negotiated.