| Date: |
01-04-2016 |
| Subject: |
India-EU FTA logjam finds no Brussels solution |
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New Delhi : The deadlock over India-EU free trade agreement continued even after the summit meeting in Brussels where the two sides failed to announce resumption of negotiations for what is known as the EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA).
Instead, India and EU merely said in a joint statement that "both sides have re-engaged in discussions with a view to considering how to further the EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations''.
The negotiations for FTA have remained stalled for three years now and it was expected that PM Narendra Modi's first summit meet with EU leaders would lead to some headway. According to government officials, both sides asked each other to show more flexibility in their approach to the negotiations.
It was widely expected that India and the 28-nation European Union (EU) would announce resumption of talks, which have been held up since May 2013 as both sides are yet to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security status for the IT sector.
The negotiations were launched in 2007. Senior officials from both sides met twice in the last two months to resolve contentious issues so that some announcement could be made at the summit.
India and EU though reaffirmed their shared commitment to opposing protectionism and to work in favour of a fair, transparent and rules-based trade and investment environment.
The EU welcomed India's readiness to establish a mechanism to facilitate investments of all EU member states in India.
"The leaders committed to further strengthen the current EU-India dialogues in a wide array of sectors including pharmaceuticals, trade and industry issues, agriculture, fisheries, food and feed safety," the statement said.
The negotiations for the proposed BTIA have witnessed many hurdles with both sides having major differences on crucial issues like intellectual property rights, duty cut in automobile and spirits, and liberal visa regime.
The pact is aimed at reducing or significantly eliminating tariffs on goods, facilitate trade in services and boost investments between the two sides. The two-way commerce in goods between India and the EU stood at $98.5 billion in 2014-15.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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