Trade pact, climate change to top India-EU summit agenda

Nov 5, 2009, 10:40 GMT

   New Delhi - India and the European Union on Friday are to hold their 10th summit, which could see both sides provide a fresh impetus to a proposed trade pact and narrow differences over climate change.

   The summit, which marks a decade of growing relations between India and the EU, aims to expand cooperation on such issues as the global economic crisis, energy security and terrorism.

   Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to hold talks with his Swedish counterpart, Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country now holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU.

   Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, is to also participate in the talks along with other top European diplomats.

   The summit should impart 'political momentum and inspiration' to the long negotiations on a trade pact, EU ambassador to India Daniele Smadja said.

   The EU and India began negotiations in 2007 on a broad trade and investment pact, including a free trade agreement (FTA), but differences persist over intellectual property rights and the EU's insistence on linking trade with climate issues and child labour in India.

   'The FTA negotiations are very complex,' Smadja said. 'We have to jump into the cold water of give and take. We have to get into the exchange of concessions. We still have very difficult negotiations before us.'

   'We hope an agreement on trade and investment will be concluded soon,' she said. 'The summit will give it an impetus. We are looking at our leaders to give inspiration and momentum.'

   An India-EU business summit is to also be held Friday to discuss issues relating to the global economic crisis.

   The EU is India's largest trading partner with annual bilateral trade of 77 billion euros (110 billion dollars). The proposed pact could raise that figure past 200 billion dollars by 2015.

   With weeks to go before the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen, global warming was to be another key area of discussions.

   So far, the EU has pledged to cut emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and to deepen that cut to 30 per cent if there is an 'ambitious' deal in Copenhagen in December.

   India is resisting any binding emission cuts and demanding financing and technological support from rich countries to help reduce its emissions.

   'We will be seeking a clearer picture of where India stands on Copenhagen,' James Moran, the European Commission's director for Asia, was quoted as saying by the Business Standard newspaper.

   'We don't expect any revolutionary revelations, but we do hope for some clarifications from the Indian prime minister as to the exact stance India will take at the UN talks,' he said.

   India was also expected to sign a civil atomic energy pact with the EU that would mark its formal participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

   The project, which aims to harness nuclear fusion, the power that fuels the sun, was expected to be operational in Cadarche, France, by 2016.

   Its cost was estimated at 10 billion euros and involves seven participants, including the United States, EU, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.

   Counterterrorism cooperation is also to be discussed. European diplomats said the fight against a resurgent Taliban and other radical Islamic groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan would form part of the discussions.

   Other regional issues like Sri Lanka and the peace process in the Middle-East could also figure in the talks.