By IANS,
New Delhi : Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma Monday said negotiations on the trade and investment agreement between India and the European Union are nearing completion with 13 rounds of negotiations having been held so far.
“The India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations are in their final leg. Thirteen rounds of negotiations have been held so far,” said Sharma in a statement after meeting Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski here. Poland currently holds the EU presidency.
“A meeting of the commerce secretary and European Union’s (EU) director general trade was held on June 3, 2011 at London. Both the sides have intensified negotiations with a view to closing negotiations in 2011,” he added.
The negotiations cover trade in goods, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures and technical barriers to trade, trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights and geographical indications.
According to Sharma, the negotiations are being carried out as per the mandate received from the trade and economic relations committee.
Speaking on bilateral trade between India and Poland, Sharma said that it has been growing consistently during the last couple of years.
Polish foreign direct investment approvals during the period April 2000 to April 2011 stood at $42.23 million.
Poland is a major supplier of railway equipment, particularly wheels, axles and rails, as well as turbines and diesel engines to India.
The principal commodities of India’s exports to Poland include transport equipment, machinery and instruments, drugs, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, and readymade cotton garments.
India’s imports from Poland include coke and coal, machinery and equipment, iron and steel, machine tools, organic chemicals and project goods.
The minister also sought help from his Polish counterpart for resolving trade obstacles for Indian agri-products including grapes, honey, rice, fish and fishery products.
Last year, Indian grapes were rejected by the European Union authorities on the grounds of the product having chemicals in it.