Trade-offs on an FTA

If there are differences over concluding the Indo-European Union free trade agreement (FTA), the fact was underlined, maybe unwittingly, at a high-powered conference on economic cooperation between India and France. Jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, it was addressed by Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma and his French counterpart Nicole Bricq. Unusually for him, Sharma arrived bang on time, but Bricq was 15 minutes late. Undeterred by protocol, he did not wait for Bricq and started his speech — in which he confidently predicted that the FTA would be concluded this summer. When Bricq entered, Sharma accorded her the driest of welcomes before continuing his speech. When he finished, he left without a word to his guest. When she spoke, Bricq had a completely different take on the FTA. “There were still some ‘questions’ and issues before the talks can be concluded,” she told an audience comprising business leaders from both countries who must have been seriously confused.