Free trade pact will figure in India-Eu Summit today
Free trade pact will figure in India-Eu Summit today
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lead the Indian delegation while European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will lead the EU team.
This is the first such Summit in India following the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty.
"The
progress in the free trade agreement and the carbon tax issue are
expected to figure in the summit besides discussions on ways to enhance
two-way trade between India and EU," an official said.
The EU as a block of 27 countries is India's largest trading partner accounting for about 14 per cent of our foreign trade.
The
negotiations for Bilateral Investment and Trade Agreement (BTIA),
underway since June 2007, are at present critically poised and there is a
fair desire to conclude it at an early date, the official said.
The two sides are expected to unveil a political agreement on the pact during the Summit.
The proposed pact seeks to liberalise trade in goods and services, besides investments.
The negotiations on BITA were to conclude in 2011 but differences on the extent of opening of the market came in the way.
Meanwhile,
after meeting Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, European
Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said: "Tomorrow we will
present our report".
The
controversial European Union Emissions Trading Scheme that requires all
airlines, including Indian, using airports in EU to pay a tax for their
greenhouse gas emissions, the official said, will be raised by the
Indian side strongly.
India,
Russia, the US, China and other countries would meet in Moscow later
this month to decide on whether to take retaliatory measures against EU
on its "unilateral" decision to impose carbon tax on air travel.
India's trade volume with EU stood at USD 91.3 billion during 2010-11.
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