India Seeks Removal Of Non-Tariff Barriers By Eu

While seeking a reduction of tariff barriers through the use of sanitary and phyto sanitary and technical barriers to trade by deployed by the European Union, India today said that EU should take a relook at the anti dumping and anti subsidy actions, since the country's exports accounted for a meager share of the region's market.

"In order to access the developed markets like EU, there is a need for deeper appreciation of the large but developing economies like India. It calls for a series of positive steps in terms of granting GSP, reducing non tariff barriers and also significant reorientation of contingent remedies," commerce and industry minister Murasoli Maran said at the inaugural session of the second EU-India Business Summit.

On the decisions at the Doha ministerial meeting, Maran said that the additional time of two years for deciding on negotiations on investment and competition policy, proposed by EU, would allow developing countries to study the implications. He reiterated India's demands for resolution of implementation concerns.

He added that EU and India can work together in carrying forward the WTO work programme decided at Doha.

In his address at the summit EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said that negotiations over the next three years would aim at translating the ambitions (of the Doha declaration) into a reality.

He said that EU supported on issues like the TRIPs declaration, implementation, anti dumping, geographical indications and non trade concerns of agriculture because it "recognised the legitimate concerns of developing countries".

Later in the day Lamy said at a press conference that a multilateral framework on investment and competition policy will not be detrimental to India. "The reason why we want investment rules on the agenda is because it provides stability, predictability and transparency in foreign direct investment, that investors are look at,," he said.