India-EU FTA: Stock-taking meet to follow third round of talks next week
The Hindu BusinessLine | 22 November 2022
India-EU FTA: Stock-taking meet to follow third round of talks next week
BY AMITI SEN
Negotiators from India and the EU are set to kick off
the next round of talks on the proposed India-EU FTA
next week focussing on multiple areas such as
market access for key industrial and agricultural
goods, intellectual property, digital trade, government
procurement, data secure status and environment &
sustainability issues including labour and gender.
The third round of negotiations, between November
28 and December 9, will also include separate
discussions on an investment protection agreement
and geographical indications, an official told
businessline.
“The third round of negotiations will be crucial as it
will be followed by a stock-taking meeting at the
Commerce Secretary/Director General level next
month or beginning of January 2023 to decide on the
official said. About 75 sessions on 19
The third round of negotiations will be crucial as it
will be followed by a stock-taking meeting at the
Commerce Secretary/Director General level next
month or beginning of January 2023 to decide on the
official said. About 75 sessions on 19 policy areas are
scheduled in the third round, to be
hosted by India.
Cause of concern
India and the EU re-started negotiations on an FTA in
June this year after a gap of nearly nine years.
Negotiations which started in 2007 were suspended
in 2013 due to differences over several issues
including import duty cuts for automobiles and
wines and spirits, workers mobility and inclusion of
new areas such as labour, environment and
sustainability.
While India has now agreed to include several new
areas as it already has efficient domestic laws, EU’s
demand for binding commitments could be of
concern. “India is also open to brining down tariffs on
wines and spirits and automobiles. But there has to
be compatibility between the EU’s expectations and
India’s comfort levels,” said a source.Similarly, in areas such as intellectual property,
digital trade and government procurement, ambitions
of India and the EU need to be matched. “In the third
round of negotiations, both sides would try to bridge
the existing gaps in key areas and by the end of it a
clearer picture is expected to emerge on where things
stand,” the source added.
India may also press the EU to extend to it data
secure status, as part of the FTA, as it would help the
country attract more sophisticated data outsourcing
business, the source said. The EU does not want to
make deep concessions in the work visa regime, as it
says that work permits are under the remit of
individual EU states, but India may insist on some
commitments.
India is hopeful of making gains in areas such as
textiles, leather, sports goods and processed food as
the proposed FTA could place Indian exporters at par
with exporters from competing countries such as
Bangladesh and Vietnam that already have
preferential access into EU markets.
India-EU trade in goods posted a growth of 43.5 per
cent to touch a high of $116.36 billion in 2021-22.
India’s export to the EU increased 57 per cent in 2021-
22 to $65 billion, according to government figures.
