India, July 14 -- India and the Maldives have made "substantive progress" in the first round of negotiations for a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with the two sides holding text-based discussions across eight technical sessions covering eight policy areas, the Indian government said.

The negotiations were held virtually from June 29 to July 7.

"During the first round, negotiating teams from both sides engaged in text-based discussions across eight technical sessions covering eight policy areas. Both sides made substantive progress across the negotiating tracks and reached broad convergence on several issues," a government statement said.

On July 8, 2026, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met his Maldivian counterp...