By Nitin Waghela

Copyright republicworld

Signaling a soon to be inked bilateral trade pact between India and the US, a delegation led by Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal held constructive meetings with the U.S. government on various aspects of the deal. Both sides exchanged views on possible contours of the deal and it was decided to continue the engagements with a view to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial Trade Agreement, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The Union Minister had meetings with Ambassador Jamieson Greer, United States trade representative and Sergio Gor, U.S. Ambassador designate to India. Apart from meetings with the U.S. government representatives on bilateral trade matters, the delegation also held discussions with key U.S. based businesses and investors on promoting trade and investment between India and the United States.The meetings with businesses and investors evoked positive response. The business leaders reposed confidence in the India growth story and expressed their desire to intensify their business activities in India, it said. This positive development comes at a time when Russia has banned its fuel exports to all countries. India, one of the biggest Russian oil importers besides China, is likely to get affected due to the Russian fuel ban.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Kremlin would introduce a partial ban on diesel exports until the end of the year and extend an existing ban on gasoline exports.”We will soon extend the ban on gasoline exports until the end of the year, and a ban on diesel fuel exports for non-producers will also be introduced until the end of the year,” Novak was quoted as saying by a Russian news agency.Russian officials had initially blamed the oil shortages on “logistical reasons” however, Ukrainian strikes at key processing facilities has led to this move causing a surge in oil prices.