FTA talks with EU on the fast track : Commerce Minister

23 Apr 2013 Evaluate

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has said that the negotiations between India and the European Union (EU) for a free trade agreement have been intensified and the bilateral trade in goods and services and investment flows would be enhanced from the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) and discussion over a number of matters like trade in goods, services, investments, customs cooperation and trade facilitation, competition and intellectual property rights (IPRs) are underway.

So far, 15 rounds of negotiations have been held between the two sides since the negotiations for the BTIA were launched in June 2007. Now, the free trade agreement with the EU is at the closing stage and several issues have been sorted out.

The proposed 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 seeks 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 is 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 two-way trade between India and EU stood at around $94.43 billion during April-February of FY13. It aggregated to $109.86 billion in FY12. India has already implemented comprehensive FTAs with other countries such as Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.

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