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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  India-EU talks over free trade agreement in the offing
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India-EU talks over free trade agreement in the offing

Helena Konig, the EU's chief negotiator for the FTA, is expected to talk with commerce ministry officials in New Delhi this week

In June, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman met her EU counterpart, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, in Paris where the two discussed ways to move the negotiations forward. Photo: MintPremium
In June, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman met her EU counterpart, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, in Paris where the two discussed ways to move the negotiations forward. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: India and the European Union (EU) are expected to sit down for talks on how to move forward their long dragging free trade agreement (FTA) in the next few days.

Helena Konig, the EU’s chief negotiator for the India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement—as the FTA is called—is expected in New Delhi this week for talks with officials in the Indian commerce ministry, a person familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

According to the EU ambassador in New Delhi Tomasz Kozlowski, Konig was appointed in January to impart momentum to the long-running talks that began in 2007. The ambassador agreed delays had been caused in part by the fact that the EU officials who were engaged in talks with India on the FTA were also negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the US.

After Konig was named chief negotiator for the FTA the two sides met in January and February in New Delhi and Brussels to take stock.

This was followed by the India-EU summit in Brussels in March where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk “welcomed that both sides have re-engaged in discussions with a view to considering how to further the EU-India BTIA negotiations," an India-EU joint statement said.

It however did not say when the next round of talks—stalled since 2013—would take place. In June, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman met her EU counterpart, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in Paris where the two discussed ways to move the negotiations forward, Kozlowski told members of the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents.

The FTA talks have remained deadlocked since 2013 on issues such as tariffs on automobiles and alcohol. In the auto sector, the EU is unhappy given that its exporters have to face Indian import duties of up to 100% on cars and car parts. And in the case of wines and spirits, European exporters face tariffs as high as up to 150%.

According to EU officials, the EU had suggested long transitional periods for their elimination or going as far as accepting asymmetric elimination of these duties in favour of India in the case of automobiles. In the case of wines and spirits, the proposal made in 2013 was for a gradual if not complete elimination of these duties and taking into account Indian sensitivities, EU officials say.

“The EU wants to have an ambitious trade agreement with India. It will not make everyone happy but we have to take the best that both sides can agree on," said the person cited above said.

India is the EU’s 10th largest trading partner whereas the EU is India’s largest trade partner as well as the largest source of foreign direct investment. India’s position as the 10th largest economy and one of the major growth engines in the world made it an attractive partner for the EU, as was the fact that it was becoming more open to foreign investment.

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Published: 13 Jul 2016, 07:14 PM IST
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