Piyush Goyal: Trying to include education as a key sector of cooperation in FTA talks. What does this mean?

India is trying to include education as a key sector of cooperation in Free Trade Agreements (FTA) that the country is negotiating with its trading partners, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. India is negotiating trade pacts with the UK, Australia, the UAE, Canada and others.

"In the FTA and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) talks being negotiated with many countries such as the UK, Australia or Canada, we are trying to include education as a key sector of cooperation and incorporate tie-ups among universities keeping NEP (national education policy) as the basis and aiming to reduce fees,” he said in a webinar.

In a free trade pact, two or more trading partners eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. Besides, they also relax norms to increase trade in services. Not only could this mean cheaper travel charges it could also bring about better sops in terms of fees and living conditions for students who travel abroad — and vice versa.