In a significant development aimed at strengthening economic cooperation, India and Chile signed the Terms of Reference (ToR) for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on 8 May 2025. This milestone marks the formal launch of negotiations that seek to substantially expand bilateral trade, investment, and sectoral collaboration.

The ToR were signed by Juan Angulo, Ambassador of Chile to India, and Vimal Anand, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, who also serves as India’s Chief Negotiator for the CEPA. Both sides reiterated their shared commitment to forging deeper economic ties and looked forward to the first round of CEPA negotiations scheduled for 26–30 May 2025 in New Delhi.

The proposed CEPA aims to build upon the existing Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) by incorporating a broader range of sectors, including digital services, investment facilitation, critical minerals, and MSME cooperation. The initiative is expected to catalyse inclusive and sustainable economic growth for both nations.

India and Chile’s economic engagement has steadily progressed since the signing of the Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation in January 2005 and the PTA in March 2006, which was later expanded in 2016 and operationalised in 2017. Multiple negotiation rounds were held between 2019 and 2021 to explore possibilities for a more robust economic architecture.

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The groundwork for the CEPA was laid by a Joint Study Group (JSG), formed under the Framework Agreement, whose final report—signed on 30 April 2024—highlighted high-potential areas of mutual interest.

The initiative gained further momentum during the State visit of Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font to India from 1 to 5 April 2025, where he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored trade and commerce as a foundational pillar of bilateral relations. Both leaders welcomed the formal start of CEPA talks, emphasising the need for a balanced, comprehensive, and forward-looking agreement that would drive job creation, investment, and exports.

The signing of the ToR marks a new chapter in India-Chile strategic economic collaboration and reaffirms their shared ambition to shape a dynamic, inclusive, and resilient bilateral trade framework. 

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