FTA with EU not linked to Doha debacle
Financial Express | 9 November 2006
FTA with EU not linked to Doha debacle
Economy Bureau
New Delhi, Nov 8 — The government on Wednesday said the negotiations to ink a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) was not linked to the failure of the Doha round of WTO talks.
“There is a clear understanding that India and EU is underway and failure of the Doha round has no influence on them,” Rahul Khullar, additional secretary, department of commerce said at a meeting on ’Challenges and opportunities from a possible India-EU FTA’.
Khullar added that it was just a coincidence that the report by the Indo-EU high-level trade group came immediately after Doha suspension. He said an Indo-EU FTA will help both the sides gain in terms of investment and trade. “This can work out as a win-win situation for both (India and EU) as we are talking of broad-basing trade and including goods and trade in services. This would, however, involve a mutual give and take,” Khullar said.
Speaking on the occasion, Francisco da Camara Gomes, head of the EC delegation to India said the FTA with EU could be beneficial to India as currently, the EU trade with India is a meagre 1-2% of its total international trade. This leaves enough room for more investment. At the same time, the investment from India to EU should increase. Gomes clarified that the FTA is no substitute to multi-lateral negotiations under WTO but supports them.
