India – EU Joint Statement
On 28th June 2007, India and the EU began negotiations on a broad-based
bilateral trade and investment agreement in Brussels, Belgium.
These negotiations are pursuant to the commitment made by political leaders at
the India-EU Summit held in Helsinki on 13 October 2006 to move towards
negotiations of a broad-based trade and investment agreement. There has already
been significant preparatory work. The India-EU High Level Trade Group has been
preparing the ground for these negotiations since October 2005 and its report
will form the basis for further deliberation.
India and the EU expect to promote bilateral trade by removing barriers to trade
in goods and services and investment across all sectors of the economy. Both
parties believe that a comprehensive and ambitious agreement that is consistent
with WTO rules and principles would open new markets and would expand
opportunities for Indian and EU businesses.
India and the EU are important trading partners and committed proponents of the
multilateral system. Both reiterated their belief in the primacy of the
multilateral trading system and reaffirmed their commitment to the DDA round of
negotiations
To achieve this objective eight rounds of negotiations have been alternately
held at Brussels and New Delhi respectively. The 9th Round of negotiations is
scheduled to be held during 28-30th April, 2010