India, US discuss FTA on services
The Hindu
15 September 2004
India, US discuss FTA on services
New Delhi, Sept. 15. (PTI): The United States today said it discussed with the Indian authorities the issue of forging a bilateral Free Trade Agreement on services but felt that more study was needed to be done before any commitment was made.
"We did discuss the issue of FTA on services between the two countries," US Under Secretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, Alan P Larson said, adding that further study will have to be carried out on this proposal made by the Indo-US joint business council particularly on retail, financial and telecom services.
Asked if US agreed to the idea in-principle, Larson said more work was needed.
Larson, who is here as part of the ongoing Indo-US economic dialogue, had one-to-one meetings today with Planning Commission Deputy Chiarman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Finance Secretary D C Gupta.
On WTO issues, Larson maintained that the framework agreement was "very consistent" with India’s interests in agriculture, especially in protecting poor farmers.
Regarding the dismantling of quota system on textiles, he said US was confident that it would happen as scheduled by January one 2005. Countries like China and India stand to benefit from it.
