new delhi more than 300 domestic goods from agriculture textiles electronics and other sectors will get market access at concessional customs duties in mauritius with the government on wednesday approving signing of a free trade agreement between the two countriesthe union cabinet chaired by the prime minister narendra modi has approved signing of the comprehensive economic cooperation and partnership agreement cecpa between india and mauritius an official statement saidit said that mauritius will benefit from preferential market access into india for its 615 products including frozen fish speciality sugar biscuits fresh fruits juices mineral water beer alcoholic drinks soaps bags medical and surgical equipment and apparelthe cecpa between india and mauritius covers 310 export items for india including food stuff and beverages 80 lines agricultural products 25 lines textile and textile articles 27 lines base metals and articles thereof 32 lines electricals and electronic item 13 lines plastics and chemicals 20 lines wood and articles thereof 15 lines and others the statement saidin a free trade agreement two trading partners cut or eliminate customs duties on a host of products besides liberalising norms to promote services tradewith respect to trade in services indian service providers will have access to around 115 subsectors from the 11 broad service segments such as research and development telecommunication construction distribution education environmental financial tourism recreational yoga audiovisual services and transport serviceson the other hand india has offered around 95 subsectors from the 11 broad services sectors including professional services rd telecommunication financial distribution higher education environmental health tourism recreational and transport servicesboth sides have also agreed to negotiate an automatic trigger safeguard mechanism atsm for a limited number of highly sensitive products within two years of the signing of the pactthe agreement will be signed on a mutually convenient date and will come into force from the first date of the following monthaccording to the statement it will be the first trade agreement to be signed by india with a country in africait is a limited agreement which will cover trade in goods rules of origin trade in services technical barriers to trade sanitary and phytosanitary related with food safety and animal and plant health protection measures dispute settlement movement of professionals telecom financial services customs procedures and cooperation in other areas it addedindia and mauritius have been negotiating this pact since 2005 this is the first such agreement approved for signing by the modi government since it came to power in 2014the bilateral trade between the countries dipped to 690 million in 201920 from 12 billion in 201819 while indias exports in 201920 aggregated to 662 million the imports stood at 2789 millionmauritius was the second top source of foreign direct investment into india in 201920 india received 824 billion about rs 57785 crore foreign inflows from that country in the last fiscalindia has implemented free trade pacts with countries like japan korea and asean association of south east asian nations it is also negotiating similar agreements with australia new zealand and european