European Union hopeful FTA negotiations will be completed by February
First Post | Nov 14, 2011
European Union hopeful FTA negotiations will be completed by February
New Delhi: Admitting that some issues are blocking the finalisation of the Free Trade Agreement with India, the European Union on Monday voiced hope that negotiations would be completed by the next India-EU Summit scheduled to be held in February.
A top EU official, who is leading a high-level delegation to India, said negotiations on the trade agreement are on track and that all efforts would be made to iron out differences and conclude the pact soon.
“We are committed to the FTA with India. The negotiations are taking some time and negotiations always take sometime, especially trade negotiations. We will try and successfully conclude the negotiations by February when the Summit takes place. That is the objective,” David O’Sullivan, chief operation officer of European External Action Service, told reporters.
However, he added a rider, saying that though concluding the FTA soon was the objective, it depends on the political leadership of both sides.
India’s Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma. The EU is hoping FTA negotiations with India are finalised by February. Reuters
He also admitted that a few issues were blocking the conclusion of the agreement, negotiations on which began in 2007 between the two sides.
“It is not a mystery. We need some liberalisation by India in automobile and a few sectors and we are keen on imposition of some improved tax. These are part of the negotiations,” Sullivan said in response to a query on the contentious issues involved in the negotiation.
Sullivan, who met Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur this morning, said his visit was aimed at laying the ground work for the visit of European Commission’s Vice President Catherine Ashton in January and the EU-India Summit.
India and the EU launched their negotiations for the FTA to increase their trade in both goods and services and investment. While the EU goods exports to India in 2010 was worth 34.7 billion euros, its goods imports from India was to the tune of 33.2 billion euros.
To a specific question, Sullivan said the EU was not suggesting that countries come and invest in Europe on “charity” as these are the difficult times for the bloc.
“We want people or countries to make an intelligent choice. It is a commercial choice which the countries can make on their own,” he said.
Asked about the EU’s stand on India’s involvement in Afghanistan and concerns being raised by Pakistan, the EU official said the European Union was very much interested in the stability of the region.
“We will remain in Afghanistan even after the militaries leave the country and help them economically. 2014 is not the end but it is a new beginning in many ways,” he said.
Lauding India’s role in rebuilding Afghanistan, he said New Delhi was helping the war-torn country to become more stable and solve problems on its own.
“We also welcome the recent talks between India and Pakistan in Maldives. Positive signs are emerging and things seem to be going in the right direction. One thing which people everywhere want is stability,” he said.
On Iran, Sullivan said there have been some “clearly disturbing evidence” with regard to its nuclear programme, which have been leaked to the media.
“We are clear that Iran has to play its part and convince people that it is not doing anything malafide with regard to nuclear technology,” he said.
Asked whether India could play a role in crises surrounding the Gulf region, he left it for individual countries to decide on their role in such regions.
PTI
