India and Chile have committed to completing negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) this year, with both sides seeking to resolve outstanding issues related to market access and trade in critical minerals.
The commitment came during a meeting in Santiago between Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal and Chile’s Vice-Minister of International Economic Relations, Pauls Estevaz Weinstein, to review the progress of negotiations and discuss the way forward.
“With bilateral trade growing steadily, India remains committed to concluding the negotiations within this year with outcomes that are equitable, commercially meaningful and beneficial to businesses in both countries,” the Department of Commerce said in a social media post.
The proposed CEPA, the department said, must provide a balanced and mutually beneficial framework with tangible outcomes for businesses in both countries.
The two countries have so far held four formal rounds of negotiations, with the latest taking place in New Delhi in December last year. The talks were temporarily paused following Chile’s December elections, which brought conservative leader José Antonio Kast to the presidency on March 11.
The new Chilean government wanted to reassess the contents and status of the negotiations before deciding on the way forward. Following that review, Santiago has indicated its interest in resuming the talks, an official said.
A key area of the negotiations is securing stable supply chains for critical minerals. Chile is part of South America’s “Lithium Triangle” and is a major global exporter of copper—both crucial inputs for India’s electric-vehicle battery manufacturing and renewable-energy ambitions.
The proposed CEPA includes a dedicated chapter on critical and strategic minerals. India is seeking formal mechanisms to guard against sudden supply disruptions and arbitrary export restrictions, thereby ensuring predictable supply channels for domestic solar and battery manufacturers.
Chile, meanwhile, is keen to retain greater value from its mineral resources by encouraging their processing within the country.
India and Chile currently trade under an expanded Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). Signed initially in 2006 covering 474 tariff lines, the agreement was expanded in 2016 to 2,829 lines and came into force in its expanded form in 2017. The two countries subsequently moved to deepen economic ties. They finalised the Terms of Reference for upgrading the PTA into a full-fledged CEPA in April 2025.
Chile is currently India’s fifth-largest trading partner in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. Bilateral trade rose sharply from $3.84 billion in 2024 to $5.38 billion in 2025.
Agrawal is also visiting Argentina and Brazil as part of his Latin American tour. In Argentina, he is scheduled to participate in the Joint Trade Committee meeting, a forum for discussing bilateral trade-related issues. The committee last met in October 2020.
Discussions with Argentina and Brazil are also expected to cover plans to expand the PTA between India and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc that also includes Uruguay and Paraguay.
The India-Mercosur PTA, which has been operational since 2009, currently covers only 450 tariff lines.