India, Feb. 6 -- India and the six-nation bloc of Middle Eastern nations, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), inked terms of reference on Thursday for formally launching negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The Terms of Reference (ToR) outline the scope and modalities of a proposed trade pact. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal presided over the signing ceremony of the ToRs with GCC.GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

Goyal said that the agreement will help boost bilateral trade and investments between the two."The two trading partners have been trading amongst each other for over 5,000 years," he told reporters. He added that about 10 million In...