India has just signed an ambitious free trade agreement with the European Union. This adds to the list of other trade agreements they have recently signed with Britain, New Zealand and Oman. We also hear that India may soon start trade talks with Canada.

Clearly, India is in a spirit of broadening trade with various countries. I hope this is a sentiment they will carry into the BRICS grouping, where a free trade agreement is needed to elevate the grouping’s economic ambitions.

Those of us in agriculture see the value of such an agreement. In the past, we have discussed how India would benefit from South African fruits, grains, and meat. But another agricultural product that would benefit from greater access into the Indian market is wool. The South African wool industry is heavily reliant on China, which accounts for roughly 70% of our exports. Therefore, broadening to India would be a key approach to diversification.

Currently, South African agricultural products face varying tariffs and some phytosanitary barriers in the Indian and Chinese markets.

Therefore, if India were to carry this spirit of widening trade into BRICS, as a chair for this year, these aspects, tariffs and phytosanitary barriers, would have to be at the top of the agricultural calendar.

From a South African perspective, we will undoubtedly hope and persuade others in this direction. We do this because we know that the growth of our farming sector depends on expanding export markets. What India is achieving with other countries must serve as the model for the BRICS.