New Delhi(IANS) : India and the 27-nation European Union Friday decided to fast-track negotiations for clinching a broad-based trade pact by next year and discussed the possibilities of civilian nuclear cooperation, with a cautious EU saying it does not have a common position yet on the issue in the NSG.
India and the EU ended their eighth summit by signing two pacts in areas of science and technology and development cooperation for 2007-2010 and promoting “a good compromise” and “a definite roadmap” for control of greenhouse gas emissions post-2012 at the climate change meeting in Bali, Indonesia, next month.
The EU, however, struck a cautious note on the India-US nuclear deal, saying while it appreciated the Asian economy’s growing energy needs, it has yet to evolve a common position on supporting India’s nuclear deal with the US in the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.
“We totally understand India’s growing needs for energy. We support the conversation between India and the US in this area,” Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told reporters when asked about the EU’s stand on supporting India in the NSG.
“We are trying to reach a common position (on the India-US nuclear deal,” Socrates said at a joint press interaction with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Portugal currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
Socrates stressed that after the signing of the Lisbon treaty, likely Dec 13, the EU will have a stronger constitution to give a push to a common foreign policy and to speak in one voice on major global issues.
Socrates, however, reiterated the EU’s common vision on nuclear energy with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) forming its centre. “The use of nuclear technology must be regulated in the world. The key mechanism for regulating nuclear technology is the NPT,” Socrates said, hinting that India, a non-signatory to NPT, may have to try harder to win the backing of the 45-nation NSG for global civilian nuclear cooperation.
The EU is watching closely New Delhi’s negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but it will be up to individual nations to decide their stand in the NSG.
Some of European nations like Austria, Ireland and Scandinavian countries are sceptical about the India-US nuclear deal as these countries have special sensitivities on nuclear energy.
The two sides also discussed a host of issues including energy, terrorism, the United Nations, the Doha round of negotiations and regional developments in South Asia and reviewed a joint action plan to implement decisions taken at earlier summits.
Promoting trade and investment dominated the eighth India-EU summit. “We are engaged in negotiations over a broad-based trade and investment agreement with the EU. I am hopeful that by the next summit it will be in place,” said Manmohan Singh, while adding that the talks between the two sides were productive.
“India and the EU welcomed the progress achieved in the first few rounds of negotiations on the India-EU trade and investment agreement and reaffirmed commitment to further intensify negotiations,” both sides said in a joint statement.
The EU and India share a common vision on the global agenda, said Socrates. India and the EU are seeking a successful end to the Doha trade round through “a comprehensive, balanced and ambitious outcome in all areas of negotiations”, the two sides said.
Climate change was another major theme of discussion at the summit. “We both want a general agreement for 2012 within the UN framework,” Socrates said.
The EU and India “called on all parties to actively and constructively participate in the UN climate change conference in Bali in December”, the statement said.
Manmohan Singh called for measures on climate change that don’t “perpetuate poverty”.
Socrates hoped that the Bali meet would come up with “a roadmap to a good compromise” within the UN framework and stressed on burden-sharing between developed and developing countries.
The first India-EU summit was launched during the Portuguese presidency of the EU in 2000, followed by the forging of strategic partnership between the two sides in 2004.
The EU is India’s largest trading partner and a major source of overseas direct investment and technology. Bilateral trade rose 10 percent on average each year between 2001 and 2006 to 46 billion euros ($68 billion) in 2006.
Total EU investments in India amount to about $10.86 billion, with 24 percent between August 1991 and February 2007.