FTA with EU likely by March.

BRUSSELS: As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh landed in Brussels on Thursday for the 11th annual India-EU summit, government sources confirmed that the much awaited free trade agreement, or Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), will come into effect by March 2011.

The agreement was earlier supposed to have been finalised by December 2010 but got delayed because the issue, as German ambassador to India Thomas Matussek recently said, turned out to be more complicated than what the two sides had bargained for.

"Essentially, the decks have been cleared. It will be announced on Friday at the summit that the deal will be inked by Easter (March) next year," said a source, adding that negotiations for many of the items which were proving to be a drag have been concluded. "This includes matters such as trade remedies and also intellectual property rights," he said, adding that negotiations in agriculture are still going on. India is set to push for greater access for its farm products into European markets but has so far not relented on the European Union's demand for lower tariffs on import of cars and wines and spirits into the country.

Of the 12 areas of negotiations five items - trade barriers , defence measures, trade facilitation, competition policy and rules of origin  have been finalised.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com