EU awaits India’s trade policy announcement

 The Dollar Business Bureau The European Union Ambassador J Cravinho in a media interaction on Thursday termed 2015 as a interesting and exciting year for the European Union and India in terms of trade. According to the sources, the EU envoy expressed hope that the issues pertaining to bilateral investment and Free Trade Agreement between the EU and India would be resolved and finalized in 2015. The EU envoy further said that the EU is eagerly waiting for the India’s Trade Foreign policy announcement. Stressing on the relation between the two countries, the envoy said that India holds a stronger relation with the EU in the case of economic growth, jobs, Digital India and urban development. He expressed hope that the India-EU Free Trade Agreement would come into implementation under the Narendra Modi government. The FTA agreement between the EU and India, for which the initial talks were laid in 2007 and was the last talks after that was held in 2013. He said, however, there were informal talks which would take the issue ahead in future. The envoy further spoke on issues related to Italian marines, Ukraine-Russia conflict. Stressing on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the envoy called India to play a greater role in the issue and hinted the Indian government to have talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin during his upcoming visit. The envoy also sought the intervention of India in foreign policy issues with Ukraine. The envoy also raised the issue in which the Indian government had backed Russia against US and EU economies, in a demand for ban on imports of pork from Europe. Expressed happiness over the resolved issue of EU’s ban on mango imports, the EU envoy also expressed concern over the European pork not being imported into India. The envoy further informed that a team of European Parliamentarians and EU commissioners and ministers of various sectors of the Europe will be visiting India in March to discuss various issues on science and technology, energy and climate change.  

This article was published on February 19, 2015.