Prime Minister panel to review FTAs
Zee News, India
Prime Minister panel to review FTAs
Bureau Report
3 July 2007
New Delhi, July 03: The Prime Minister’s Trade and Economic Relations Committee is likely to meet today to decide on the level of flexibility India can have in talks on different free trade agreements the country is negotiating.
The Committee will also review the progress and complex issues confronting the Commerce Ministry negotiators with regard to important FTAs with ASEAN, Thailand, Japan and European Union, official sources said.
"TERC, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will give us a direction as to how far we can stretch while negotiating the FTAs where India has so much at stake," a government official told a news agency.
With WTO negotiations stalled, India is increasingly looking at FTAs to ensure market access for domestic firms and improve political and economic relations with key nations.
Negotiations on an FTA with Thailand are moving slow after the first phase of implementation, while the Asean pact is facing issues related to reduction in duties by India on some plantation crops.
Talks with Europe and Japan are in initial phase but negotiators would like to have a mandate, the official said.
