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Roundup: No breakthrough in stalled free trade talks during EU-India summit

Xinhua, April 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The 13th summit between the European Union and India has failed to re-launch long-stalled free trade negotiations.

In a joint statement released following the recent meeting, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his EU counterparts, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker welcomed the re-engagement of both sides "in discussions with a view to considering how to further the EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations."

However, the joint statement did not mention any target date for the re-launch of trade talks.

The summit was expected to give political impetus to stalled talks that were launched in 2007 but had faced a series of hurdles since.

Negotiations on the EU-India free trade agreement collapsed in April 2013 over numerous disagreements, including the liberalization of duties on cars, wine and spirits, as well as public procurement.

In its 2015 trade and investment strategy, the European Commission said it remained "ready to resume negotiations for a comprehensive and ambitious FTA" and stressed that "an ambitious outcome" of talks with India would create new trade opportunities.

However, EU and Indian trade officials failed to break the stalemate in the run-up to the summit.

Senior trade officials from the EU and India held a meeting on Feb. 22 in Brussels as part of their joint bid to re-launch bilateral EU-India free trade negotiations. But no concrete decisions were taken.

Even if the talks are to get a fresh start, they will still be difficult, local media EU Trade Insight said.

According to sources of the website, New Delhi is pushing for better access to the EU services market, for example by receiving a "data secure" status from the bloc, as well as for the facilitation of cross-border movement of skilled workers. The EU in turn wants to widen the scope of the agreement by adding an investment chapter.

The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 13 percent of India's overall trade. In 2015, the total value of EU-India trade in goods reached 77.5 billion euros (87.9 billion U.S. dollars).

The EU is also the largest investor in India and is the primary destination for Indian foreign investment. Endit