India, EU close 7 out of 23 chapters in trade deal; last round to take place in September
Satya Srinivas, special secretary in the Department of Commerce, said the last (12th) round of talks concluded last week in Brussels. 'We have exchanged our offers on services and non-services… there were discussions on that. We also discussed key interests in market access related to goods as well… The next round of talks (will be held) in the first week of September,' Srinivas said. However, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is not part of the EU trade negotiations, Hervé Delphin, EU Ambassador to India, told The Indian Express last month. 'I have come to discover that CBAM is one of the best-known acronyms in India. First, CBAM is not a trade measure. It is not part of trade and the FTA. It's about compliance with our climate agenda to accelerate decarbonisation,' he said.
On February 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the European Commission President agreed to seal an FTA deal by year-end.
Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal said that the 10th and 11th rounds of talks are likely to be held in August here and in October in Malaysia. 'We are engaged in the negotiations. Nine rounds of talks have been concluded so far… The progress so far has been chequered — not what it could have been — but the good part is that we are moving forward on many aspects, especially on customs and trade facilitation,' Agrawal said.
Further, he said talks are also progressing on issues like technical cooperation, SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) and TBT (technical barriers to trade) collaborations.
'We hope there is going to be one physical round in August and… another in October in Malaysia. So we hope that in these two rounds, we should be able to make good progress and try to have some kind of conclusion when the ASEAN-India Summit takes place at the end of October. The endeavour is in that direction. Let's see how much we can achieve,' he said.
The review of the agreement is a long-standing demand of domestic industry, and India is looking forward to an upgraded pact that will address the current asymmetries in bilateral trade and make trade more balanced and sustainable.
Ravi Dutta Mishra is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, covering policy issues related to trade, commerce, and banking. He has over five years of experience and has previously worked with Mint, CNBC-TV18, and other news outlets. ... Read More
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