| Date: |
17-12-2015 |
| Subject: |
India-EU FTA talks resume in January, summit in first half of 2016 |
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NEW DELHI: India and the European Union will hold their long-pending summit in the first half of next year and resume negotiations on a free trade agreement in January to bring relations back on track.
Newly-appointed ambassador of European Union Tomasz Kozlowski said the issue of European Union restricting sale of around 700 generic drugs clinically tested by India's GVK Biosciences does not stand any more and both are now set to open a "new page" in their ties. FTA talks between the two sides will be held in Delhi mid-January. Officials sources hinted that the "stock taking" FTA talks will be held on January 18.
"The summit meeting will be held in first half of 2016. We are now working on mutually convenient dates for the summit," he told reporters while describing India an engine of growth of the global economy.
The envoy who had earlier served as Polish Ambassador to Pakistan indicated that meeting between Modi and European Union leadership on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Antalya in Turkey last month paved the way for the decision to hold summit talks in first half of next year and resumption of FTA negotiations.
The last India-EU Summit had been in 2012. Ties saw some strain after the bilateral summit could not be arranged during the PM's Europe trip in April apparently over the Italian marines issue. Later efforts to arrange it in September and November during Modi's trip to Ireland, US and UK could not materialise. It is scheduled to be held in Brussels. Kozlowski said, "We are now set open a new page in our ties," adding the two sides were also finalising a pact to facilitate better movement of people from India to EU and vice versa. When asked about Italian fishermen issue, Kozlowski said it remained a matter of concern.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
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