The Hindu : Business : ‘Speed up FTA with EU’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007
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‘Speed up FTA with EU’

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Expressing doubts over the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks making headway in the near future, Austria on Tuesday asked India to speed up free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) to enlarge markets for European and Indian businesses.

This was conveyed by the Austrian Minister for Commerce and Labour, Martin Bartenstein, to the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, during their bilateral talks on a host of bilateral and multilateral issues, including progress on the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Doha Round of negotiations for a global trade deal.

“WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy, thinks that modalities for the Doha Round can be finished by February or March next. We had similar target for the Hong Kong Ministerial meet in December 2005,” Mr. Bartenstein said at a joint media briefing with Mr. Kamal Nath.

Both Mr. Kamal Nath and Mr. Bartenstein emphasised the timeline of 2008-end for completing negotiations on India-EU FTA, officially known as Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement. The visiting Austrian Minister said the EU was working on a ‘Blue Card’ scheme on the lines of the U.S. ‘Green Card’ for expatriates.

As regards India-Austria bilateral trade and investment, Mr. Kamal Nath said Indian small and medium enterprises could benefit from the Austrian technology.

The Austrian Minister agreed to promote cooperation among SMEs of the two countries.

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