By Pieter Cleppe
On 17 June, the EU and India formally relaunched negotiations for a free trade agreement. The purpose is to conclude talks by the end of 2023. The talks had been stalled for almost nine years.
🟢EU & INDIA RELAUNCH TRADE DEAL NEGOTIATIONS🟢@EU_Commission is pleased to announce that EU & India have formally relaunched negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement.🇪🇺🤝🇮🇳
I was pleased to welcome Minister @PiyushGoyal to Brussels for talks today. #EUTrade pic.twitter.com/mCIoOnxLLT
— Valdis Dombrovskis (@VDombrovskis) June 17, 2022
Speaking in Brussels about the topic, India’s commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal (picture) commented:
“It will open the doors, we believe, to our textiles, leather, pharma, sports goods, some agri products, handicrafts, handlooms. All this will get a bigger market. Our exports will increase. (…) We will get the benefit of their modern technologies”.
He mentioned that specifically for the services sector, “we will get a larger flow of investments from Europe. It will be a win-win for both the countries.”
India, EU Look to Make a Fresh Start for a Trade Deal in Brusselshttps://t.co/F9Qb5hCmX6
— TaxpayerLeadersForum (@taxpayerforum) June 20, 2022
Velina Tchakarova, the Director of Austrian think tank AIES, commented: “The following topics are key: FTA, investment protection, geographical indications. They aim to conclude negotiations by December 2023.”
The Business Standard remarks:
“There are significant differences that need to be bridged regarding all the three pillars — goods, services, and intellectual property (IP),” Pradeep S Mehta, secretary-general, CUTS International said.
India and the EU agreed to resume negotiations for a balanced and comprehensive trade pact; this shall be split into three agreements on trade, geographical indications (GIs), and investment. A Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) was first mooted in 2007 but didn’t move past the negotiating stage. The 16th and last formal round of discussion was held in 2013.”
Reportedly, the EU is going to demand lower tariffs to gain more access to India’s automobile, alcoholic drinks and agricultural market, as India is keen to get access to the EU’s services market, as well as securing easier visa access for Indian workers. The EU is likely to demand attaching environmental and labour standards to any deal.
German ECR MEP Lars Patrick Berg commented after a meeting with India’s ambassador:
“India and the EU have huge markets and potential to collaborate, the FTA free trade agreement gives us exactly that opportunity.”
India 🇮🇳 and the EU 🇪🇺 have huge markets and potential to collaborate, the #FTA free trade agreement gives us exactly that opportunity. Thanks to Ambassador Jha @IndEmbassyBru for the wonderful conversation. https://t.co/Ppia86cyBa
— Lars Patrick Berg MdEP (@L_P_Berg) June 1, 2022
„India 🇮🇳 should be a key trading partner“. This is exactly what I have been talking about for a while now. Happy to see majority supporting deepening relations with #India in INTA-Committee. 🇪🇺 requires urgent (!) diversification of supply chain. Now is the right time to do so. pic.twitter.com/avDVdxj8CE
— Lars Patrick Berg MdEP (@L_P_Berg) June 17, 2022
Picture: wikipedia (copyright: By Piyush Goyal – https://twitter.com/PiyushGoyal, EdictGov-India, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83176625 )