Security cooperation strengthened, no progress on FTA: Belgian

Security cooperation was strengthened during the India-EU Summit, Belgian envoy to India Jan Luykx said today, but admitted that no real progress was made on the free trade agreement.
Luykx said he considers the India-EU Summit, held here last month, a "success" barring the the much-delayed free trade pact (FTA).
He also indicated that Belgium was in favour of the India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), as the proposed FTA is known.
"In the field of trade negotiations, the Summit has not really led to any results. On the other hand, as far as I am concerned, the Summit did mark progress between India and the EU in several important fields, especially in the area of security cooperation," Luykx said.

During the India-EU Summit held in early September, both sides adopted a declaration to counter terrorism and discussed ways to strengthen their cooperation in the key areas of trade and security.
However, there was no major headway on the free trade pact.
Jean Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, had said that "only when the conditions are right we resume (talks)".
Luykx said the Summit had a broad agenda and FTA was one of the main issues.