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The European Union needs to fast-track its pending free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with partner countries to stay globally competitive as it has not signed any new pact since 2011, said Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“We want the EU to step up its efforts to sign FTAs to gain back its lost competitiveness. Hungary’s competitiveness is strongly linked to that of the EU’s,” said Szijjártó after inaugurating the World Export Development Forum (WEDF) 2017 in Budapest on Wednesday.
The WEDF, jointly organised by the International Trade Centre (ITC), a development agency supporting internationalisation of small and medium enterprises, and the Hungarian government, has brought together small businesses, policy makers and trade experts to discuss inclusive and sustainable trade and forge networks.
BTIA talksSzijjártó’s comments are important in the context of the proposed India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) talks that were suspended in 2013 following disagreement over key market access issues in goods and services. However, the two sides, resolved to take a decision on re-starting negotiations soon at the India-EU Summit in New Delhi earlier this month.
Recently, there has been bit of a backlash against open trade and trade agreements that is not healthy, said Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director, ITC.
“We believe that it is not trade protectionism that will remove inequalities. What is needed are smarter trade agreements and stronger domestic policies focussing on education, skilling, health and infrastructure that will help everybody benefit from open market opportunities,” Gonzalez said.
Pressure from countries, such as Hungary, which is an important Central European economy, and part of the 28-member EU, can play an important role in nudging the bloc to restart talks with India without tough pre-conditions, such as prioritising investment pacts.
“It is disappointing that the last FTA entered into by the EU was in 2011 with South Korea,” Szijjártó said.
(The writer’s trip to Budapest is sponsored by International Trade Centre)
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