India, EU fail to sort out differences on free trade agreement
Livemint | Tue, Apr 16 2013.
India, EU fail to sort out differences on free trade agreement
Both sides reiterated their positions and scheduled another ministerial meeting in June to review progress in talks
Asit Ranjan Mishra
New Delhi: India and the European Union failed to sort out their differences on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides in a meeting between trade minister Anand Sharma and EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht at Brussels on Monday.
Both sides reiterated their already stated positions, emphasized the need for demonstrating pragmatism and scheduled another ministerial meeting in June to review progress in talks.
Speaking at the Mint Luxury Conference last month, Sharma had indicated that both sides may conclude negotiations at the Brussels meeting. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during a recent visit to Germany, said in a statement that both sides had agreed on the importance of an early conclusion to a balanced India-EU broad-based trade and investment agreement.
However, various groups have built up pressure against a trade deal that they regard as discriminatory. These include industry lobbies such as the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, which runs dairy products producer Amul, and healthcare activists.
In a rare intervention, the Parliamentary standing committee on commerce headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shanta Kumar on Thursday warned the government against signing an accord that hasn’t been examined by its members.
“The candid discussion between the leaders covered all the elements of the package,” the Indian commerce ministry said in a release on Tuesday. “A clear understanding was reached that a fine balance needs to be arrived at for meaningful expectations of market access on both the sides.”
While Sharma underscored the importance of getting a good package on services, including declared interests in information technology and movement of Indian professionals and the need to declare India a data secure country, the EU conveyed its strong interest in financial services, automobile sector, wines and spirits and cheese.
Sharma also highlighted issues of market access for agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and textiles, maintaining that India cannot go beyond the parameters of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and Indian laws on intellectual property in the ongoing negotiations. The EU, on its part, sought assurances on the facilitation of the registration of Geographical Indicators.
Talks on the bilateral trade and investment agreement started in 2007. The two sides have missed at least four deadlines to complete the negotiations.
