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India, EU free trade talks at 'advanced' stage

02 August 2011, 23:41 CET
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(NEW DELHI) - Negotiations on a free-trade pact between India and its biggest trading partner, the European Union, have reached an "advanced and delicate stage," a minister said Tuesday.

Thirteen rounds of talks have been held since India and the 27-member EU started discussing the comprehensive market-opening pact in June 2007 to boost bilateral commerce.

"Negotiations are at an advanced and delicate stage," junior commerce minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told parliament.

"Both sides are moving toward finding a common landing zone which meets the objective of a balanced and fair agreement," Scindia said, without elaborating.

The two sides originally hoped to conclude a wide-ranging deal by 2010 that could boost boost bilateral trade to $237 billion annually by 2015 from around $92 billion currently.

But India and the EU have been at odds over intellectual property rights in patent areas involving life-saving generic HIV/AIDS drugs and other medicines which are produced by Indian companies.

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, has expressed fears that EU proposals for the agreement could make generic HIV drugs unaffordable -- something that New Delhi has pledged to resist.

Negotiations have also been held up by EU concerns about India's resolve to tackle global warming and child labour -- issues that New Delhi says have nothing to do with trade.

India, which recently implemented free trade pacts with Japan and Malaysia, now hopes to conclude negotiations by the end of 2011.


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