India-EU FTA to Close This Year: EU Delegation, India European Union FTA Ties, India and EU Free Trade Agreement, Free Trade Agreement Between India and European Union

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SME Times News Bureau | 29 Apr, 2010
The ongoing negotiations for a market opening Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the 27-nation bloc European Union is expected to conclude before the end of the year, said a high-powered visiting delegation from the European Union (EU) on Wednesday.

"We believe that the FTA will be signed by the time EU-India Summit is held," said a high-powered delegation of representatives from European Parliament headed by Graham Watson. He said at a press conference in New Delhi that the negotiations between the two are now under way at Brussels.

The delegation includes 12 Parliamentarians from different EU countries including Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal and Austria.

Watson said "the trade is the best way to cement relationships between countries as it facilitates better relations. The trade between India and EU is heavily loaded in favour of India and we expect that the EU contribution will go up progressively."

"While we believe there are a few issues of mutual concern that need to be addressed, we are hopeful that most of these issues would be addressed before the signing up of the FTA," he added.

The representatives expressed that the negotiations now under way will certainly help resolve the issues related to entry barriers for trade with EU and help growth of trade between the two sides.

Negotiation between India and the EU for a free trade agreement started in June 2007 covering a range of areas like trade in goods and services, customs cooperation & trade facilitation, dispute settlement, competition and IPR, etc.

The FTA which was aimed at removing or reducing import duties and making bilateral investment flow easy was to conclude in 2009.