EU committed to free-trade pact with India

EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski

The European Union and India are "fully committed" to secure free trade agreement with discussions being currently on between the two sides, EU official says. The negotiations for the much-delayed pact, officially called the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), have been held up since May 2013, but have also witnessed many hurdles.

“Discussions between the European Union and India are going on. Both sides are fully committed to moving the agenda forward and discussions are on,” Ambassador of the bloc to India Tomasz Kozlowski said on Sunday.

Besides demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, the EU seeks reduction on wines, spirits and diary products, as well as a strong intellectual property regime. India, on the other hand, asks to be granted data secure nation status by the bloc, since it is among those nations that are not considered as data secure by the EU.

“The grant of a data secure nation status to India by the EU will provide the country's IT firms enhanced market access to European nations and also improve their business prospects significantly," EAZY ERP Technologies Managing Director Kunal Singhal commented.

Meanwhile, the two sides have to also iron out differences related to the movement of professionals.

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