EU-India free trade talks at 'crucial stage'

Negotiations on the EU-India free trade agreement are in a crucial phase, according to EU Trade spokesperson, Mr John Clancy.

“Both sides are fully committed to breaking the remaining issues before the summer,” he said in an e-mailed statement to Business Line . “Intensive work will be ongoing at all levels over the coming weeks until the summer.” .

“Chief negotiators will meet again in May followed probably by high level meetings later in May or June,” he said, adding that there would continue to be “technical meetings” to discuss outstanding issues. “This agreement would be the most significant FTA ever concluded by the EU bringing together almost a quarter of the world's population.”

Further work is required in areas such as tariffs, services and procurement, he said. “But the contours of the deal are clearly emerging so we hope to be able to also close the remaining gaps which are outstanding.”

Earlier this week, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, estimated the free trade agreement would be concluded within the year. It follows other FTAs signed with South Korea and Japan. Talks have started with Turkey.

An early 2011 deadline for the EU-India FTA was set by the two sides at the 11th EU India Summit in Brussels last December.

Among the many contentious issues in the deal are those that would see India reform its intellectual property policies for the pharma industry, restricting the production of generic medicines. Critics such as Medicine Sans Frontier argue that the move would have far wider implications than the immediate participants in the deal, hurting the provision of affordable life-saving medicines across the world.

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