Seeking to conclude the long-awaited trade and investment agreement within this year, India and European Union will hold a Ministerial summit in November to conclude the deal.
Giving this information here, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who returned from Brussels on Wednesday, said that every possible effort was being made to reach an early conclusion of the India-EU trade and investment agreement. “The final Ministerial meeting, we will be holding in New Delhi in November,” he stated.
He said in his meeting with his European Union counterpart Karel De Gucht in Brussels early this week both the sides had agreed for early conclusion of the talks. The talks for a broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), which kick-started in June 2007, were to conclude in 2011. However, differences between the two sides on the level of opening of the market came in the way of the pact.
While India wants more access in services sector, EU is pressuring to reduce duties on automobiles, wines and spirits, dairy farming products and agricultural subsidies.
The bilateral trade between India and EU jumped to $108 billion in 2011 from $83.46 billion in 2010.
