Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between India and the European Union (EU) take a twist as non-trade issues are becoming key issues and necessary to be addressed, said Daniele Smadja, Ambassador, head of the EU delegation in India said on Friday.

India is insisting on keeping non-trade issues such as child labour, human rights violation off the FTA radar; which could derail the talks with EU. Smadja said child rights and human rights issues in Indian labour market are key concerns for EU. “But we have to keep in mind we don’t create new tariff barriers. The priority is on tariff negotiations, government procurements, intellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers,” she added.

European Parliament earlier this year raised its concern regarding the “continuing persecution of religious minorities and human rights defenders in India” and the current human rights and security situation in “Indian-administered Kashmir”.

European Parliament is also insisting India to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty but a senior commerce ministry official said to the EU delegation that “Sovereign issues are of our own and non-negotiable”.

“We have made it very clear in various forums that we cannot negotiate such issues. Even we have reservations in negotiating government procurements and we have said that TRIPS related issues are of serious concern to us. EU is raising non-trade issues to put more pressure on India to get what they want in other areas. This could derail the talks,” said Biswajit Dhar, Director General, Research and Information System on Developing Countries.

India-EU FTA talks started in 2007, with the 7th round of negotiations held in New Delhi last month. Smadja said that the issue will be taken up at the India-EU summit on 6 November in Delhi where the dates for the next round of discussions will also be confirmed.

“India-EU FTA is a strategic objective for us. The negotiators are getting into the details now. There are number of aspects that are not easy. These will be taken up at the India-EU summit,” Marco Buti, Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs at EU said.

Asked about concluding the talks for the FTA, Smadja said “Substance is more important than timing. We have to maintain the objective for a very comprehensive which is highly beneficial to both sides. This is a very difficult FTA because it is an ambitious one. We know there is no quickfix. However, we have made good progress. We have the most difficult path ahead. We have difficult constituencies to satisfy on both sides,” she said.

In 2007, EU’s ninth-most important trading partner was India. India received the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) from EU, amounting to €10.9 billion (Rs 70,959 crore now), or 65% of all FDI inflows in India in 2007.

Source: Live Mint