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Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel has said that the government is closely monitoring all the free trade agreements (FTAs) which it has signed and based on stakeholder consultations, existing FTAs with ASEAN and Korea are being reviewed. She said the government is negotiating FTAs with the European Union, the UK, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Canada. 

The minister stated that these negotiations or its review are a long-drawn process and the timeline for completion of such negotiations cannot be predicted since the parties to the negotiations are required to agree to the outcome. She noted that India has signed 13 FTAs and 6 Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) with its trading partners. 

She further said the number of complaints referred/ received by the Government e-marketplace (GeM) vigilance unit during last year (July 2022 to June 2023) was 54. The majority of complaints, received through post and e-mails, were by sellers against buyers. After examination at GeM end, GeM observations in these cases are being sent to the corresponding Chief Vigilance Officer/ Head of Department of the Buyer Organisation for further examination/ investigation and/ or action(s) as deemed fit at their end.