India-EU: full steam ahead to finalise FTA

The Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission has issued a statement on the status of the free trade negotiations between the EU and India. According to the press release, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is expected to bring India gains of EUR 5 billion and the EU over EUR 4 billion. Difficult issues in the negotiations include the protection of intellectual property rights, particularly in the pharmaceutical area.

So far, 13 rounds of formal negotiations have taken place since the launch of the FTA negotiations in June 2007. Intense negotiations would continue over the coming months to solve remaining core issues by the next EU-India Summit scheduled for 10 February 2012, said the EU Trade spokesman.

For the full press release and further details on EU trade relations with India go to the European Commission Trade website.