India, EU to resume FTA talks

17 Dec '15

2 min read

A long-pending India-European Union summit is likely to be held in the first half of next year even as the two sides are set to resume negotiations on a free trade agreement in January to bring relations back on track.

“The summit meeting will be held in first half of 2016. We are now working on mutually convenient dates,” the EU's new ambassador to India, Tomasz Kozlowski told reporters in New Delhi.

Negotiations to conclude the long-pending India-EU FTA or Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) have been in cold storage since 2013. Talks were scheduled to resume in August this year, but India called them off following a ban on sale of drugs tested by Hyderabad-based GVK Biosciences.

But Kozlowski insists the ban issue does not stand any more and both sides are now gearing up to open a “new page” in their bilateral ties. And this, he said, will be marked by the holding of the India-EU Summit when leaders from both sides will meet. The last summit was held in 2012.

Describing India as an engine of growth for the global economy, the EU envoy said, the FTA talks remained inconclusive for so long because both sides were not “satisfied” with the offers made under the talks. (SH)

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