By EuAsiaNews
Brussels : The Secretary General of the Brussels-based Europe-India Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Sunil Prasad, has welcomed the report published Monday by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)on the potential of trade between the 27-member European Union and India.
The FICCI forecasts that India’s trade with the EU has the potential to reach a whopping $572 billion by 2015 once the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been signed between the two sides.
Currently Brussels and New Delhi are negotiating the FTA.
“This likely scenario adds a new dimension to deepen economic and political ties between the two sides,” Prasad, told EuAsiaNews.
He said growing trade between them will help global peace, stability and progress at a time when the US economy is inching towards recession with unpredictable economic consequences for many countries.
However, he felt that with strong economic foundations in place India will not be affected by this changing development.
The India-EU FTA is likely to be fully implemented by 2015 by when India’s trade in goods with the European bloc could be around $251 billion and trade in services $321 billion, according to a study by the chamber on ‘India-EU Trade & Investment: Current Status and Issues’.
Prasad, however, cautioned that the FTA “must not be empty on content and India should ask to be ensured that non-tariff barriers (NTBs) prevalent in the EU do not bother Indian exporters after the FTA is inked. ”
EU-India trade has grown over the years, from 4.4 billion euro in 1980 to over 46 billion euro in 2006.
Trade with the EU represents almost 20% of India’s exports and imports and the EU thus as a bloc is India’s largest trading partner.