Commerce Minister expects negotiations on FTA with EU to conclude soon

22 Mar 2013 Evaluate

Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma has said that the government expects to conclude negotiations on the long-pending Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) at a ministerial meeting scheduled on 14-15 April’ 13. India and the European Union are negotiating the agreement since June 2007 and have missed several deadlines to conclude the talks.

The agreement would give more opportunities for both sides to market access in both goods and services. The EU wants to gain more access into the Indian markets and want significant reduction in customs duty on cars, wines and spirits on their exports to India. On the other hand, India is looking at EU as important destinations for its information technology professionals, architects, engineers, teachers and chefs and seeking single visa for its professionals on short-term contractual visits to the European Union. The agreement will help Indian companies expand in the EU, the country's biggest trading partner. As much as 90 per cent of the bilateral trade in goods and services would be covered under the pact with EU.

The free trade agreement with the 27-nation bloc European Union is at the closing stage and several issues have been sorted out. Regarding the issues in FTA pact, the EU had been unrelenting on their demands for more rate concessions in India’s auto sector, which has been severely opposed by manufacturers as the cheaper imports would lead to massive job losses in the industry. Similar problems have risen in the wines and spirits sector. The EU has demanded for stronger implementation of the intellectual property protection norms that might affect the country’s generic drugs industry, which exports 67 per cent of its produce to other developing and poorer countries.

The two-way trade between India and EU increased to about $110 billion in 2011 from $ 83.37 billion in 2010. India has already implemented comprehensive FTAs with other countries such as Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.

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