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India, E.U. begin two days of trade
By agencies
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Monday, 13 February 2006, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: India and the European Union began two days of trade talks in New Delhi in a bid to boost bilateral economic ties shackled by differences on international trade issues.
The talks starting on Monday, led by Indian Commerce Secretary S.N. Menon and the E.U. director general for trade, David O'Sullivan, mark the second time the two sides are meeting as members of a high-level trade group formed during an E.U.-India summit in the Indian capital in September.
The group met in Brussels in November, hoping to make progress on the key issues hampering trade between developed countries and developing economies- agricultural tariffs and market access.
Officials on both sides have said these are the very issues that need to be addressed to spur bilateral trade between the European countries and the South Asian giant, whose economy is growing at better than 8.0 percent.
Although the E.U. is India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade at around $41.2 billion, E.U. trade with South Korea stands at $53 billion while that with China amounts to $200 billion, according to E.U. officials.
India has been pressing for greater access to E.U. markets, while the E.U. has called on New Delhi not to block agricultural products such as wine and cheese.
Indian commerce officials have frequently raised the issue of "non-tariff barriers," including huge subsidies to farmers and hygiene rules that have kept agricultural products, such as farmed shrimp, out of Europe.