BRUSSELS: India and the EU Saturday decided to launch negotiations for a free trade agreement along with treaties on investment protection and geographical indications as the two trading partners look to strengthen ties.
Talks for the free trade agreement (FTA) have been suspended for around eight years, and the latest push is part of government efforts to enter into pacts with several countries including the UAE, Australia, UK and Canada.
The two trading partners have set an ambitious deadline of concluding talks by the end of 2023 with tariff reductions across sectors, including those such as automobiles and wine and spirits, which have proved to be contentious in the past. As part of an FTA, India recently agreed to offer duty concessions to Australian wine.
EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the idea of the agreement is to have substantial coverage of goods. In addition, EU is looking at making sustainability, which includes environment and climate change, human rights and labour standards, a key element of the new pact with Dombrovskis making it clear that some flexibility could be built into the negotiations.
Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal said India has already taken several steps in areas such as gender equality and environment and was willing to engage for a positive outcome. He did not comment on the areas that may be of interest to India, but officials indicated duty reduction in labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and engineering goods are on the agenda. They said public procurement and an investment pact that goes beyond the model treaty may be part of the package.
The “ultimate goal” is to maximise the considerable, yet largely untapped trade and investment potential between the EU and India, the EU trade commissioner said.