By IANS
New Delhi : India and the European Union (EU) will start talks here Thursday to speed up bilateral trade with an eye to inking the much-awaited free trade agreement that has been facing several hurdles in the past.
The two sides will also seek to increase investments and address common concerns on issues such as climate change, public-private partnership, and infrastructure and logistics, officials said ahead of the 8th India-EU Business Summit.
Besides the Government of India and the EU Secretariat, the summit is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath will jointly preside over the summit.
“India’s ties with the EU, in particular, have developed exponentially in scope and intensity in the recent years. In 2000, the EU-India partnership took a quantum leap with the decision to hold annual summits,” said a CII statement.
“The potential of India and EU markets in various sectors globally has been exploited to a great extent to the mutual advantage of both regions,” it added.
The EU is India’s largest trading partner, with Germany making up 26 percent of its total exports to India of over euro 6 billion.
It is also the second-largest investor followed by Belgium and Italy, according to official statistics.
Britain is the largest importer, accounting for 20 percent of total EU imports from India. India, in fact, has emerged the second largest investor in Britain.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates of Portugal, which has the European Union presidency, is scheduled to attend the summit with a 50-member business delegation.
The Association of Portugal Industries (AIP), the European Business Group (EBG) and Business Europe are the European partners are co-organising this business summit.