India, EU officials to meet today on FTA talks

This is the first official interaction between both the sides since Britain decided to exit from the 28-nation bloc through a general referendum

The chief negotiators of India and the European Union (EU) will meet on Friday to discuss ways to carry forward the long-stalled negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA).

“India and EU chief negotiators to meet on July 15 to discuss way forward in India-EU broad-based bilateral trade and investment agreement,” the department of commerce said in a tweet.

The Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) - the official free trade pact, which has been pending since 2007 on account of a number of bottlenecks.

Apart from being the first official interaction between both the sides since Britain decided to exit from the 28-nation bloc through a general referendum, it will also be the first follow up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Brussels earlier this year when he had discussed the issue with EU leaders.

The BTIA negotiations had remained deadlocked over growing differences regarding greater market access sought by both for merchandise exports. However, Commerce Ministry officials said the EU has consistently sought lower import duties on a range of commodities. This time, the EU is seeking the lowering of tariffs on automobiles and wine products.

Both the sides had adopted an agenda in Brussels, which pushes for a broad based approach to "resolve trade irritants in particular concerning goods, services and investments, and strengthen trade and investment relations".

On this note, issues related to facilitation of greater movement of professionals from one country to another, arising out of the Mode 4 provisions of the 1995 General Agreement on Trade in Services is another point of contention between the two sides. This also involves India's demands to be classified a data- safe country, which will help Indian information technology and outsourcing companies gain a foothold.

Other than being India's largest trading partner and its biggest export destination, the bloc has also been New Delhi's 'strategic' partner' since 2004. Two- way commerce had reduced to $88.4 billion in 2015-16 from $98.52 billion in the previous year. The EU's share in India's total trade has also progressively shrunk in recent years. Indian exports to the block have shrunk from 21.84 per cent in 2004-05 to 16.04 per cent in 2014-15. Imports have witnessed a similar slide over the same period, going down from 17.30 per cent to 10.98 per cent.

From the Indian side, 10 members will take part in the meeting, while six members from the EU would be present. India has already stated that it is keen on resuming long-stalled talks for the trade pact. The meeting also assumes significance as India and the UK are exploring possibilities of negotiating a separate free trade pact.

With the Britain's decision, India and the EU would have to recalibrate the proposed free trade agreement with the bloc.