Comments
Politics should be kept out of discussions on the stalled India-EU Free Trade Agreement, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister said.
“The trade agreement with the EU should remain a non-political issue.,” said Didier Reynders, who is currently in India on a 350-strong trade delegation led by Princess Astrid, in an email interview with Business Line .
“It will increase competition in several sectors but it will also create more business opportunities for exporters and importers,” he said. “Indian consumers will benefit from a wider (range of) choices. It is essential to explain on both sides that the agreement will be a win-win situation.”
He said that while no significant progress in the talks, which began in 2007, were likely to happen before the forthcoming general election, the EU would resume talks with the next Government. “I remain optimistic that we will finally come to an agreement.”
Belgium is set to open a consulate general office in Chennai in the next few weeks, and hopes to expand its trade, currently dominated by the diamond trade, to new sectors. Talks aimed at that expansion will take place during the trip, which will include New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
Nearly two third of the €13.3 billion bilateral trade between the two countries comes from the diamond sector.
“The diamond sector is very important on both sides and we wish to consolidate and further expand this partnership….The economic mission to India…is an excellent occasion to develop new areas of cooperation,” he said.
“There is potential for more cooperation in areas such as infrastructure and logistics, energy and green technology, healthcare, chemicals, banking and finance.” Tourism and education were also areas that would be focused on during the visit, he said.
The Minister is set to meet with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah.
The visit follows President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Belgium earlier this year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.