Trade deal, Iran top agenda for India-EU summit

Feb 9, 2012, 10:25 GMT

New Delhi - India and the European Union were expected to give a decisive push Friday to negotiations on a free trade pact at a summit in New Delhi, at which Iran's nuclear programme was also to figure prominently.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to hold talks with EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The focus of the 12th India-EU summit would be on boosting commercial ties as European economies slide towards recession and India is recording growth of about 7 per cent, Indian foreign ministry officials said.

Although the trade pact would not be signed at the summit, the leaders were likely to announce a road map for concluding the deal in the next few months, diplomats said.

India and the EU have missed several deadlines on the broad-based trade agreement, negotiations on which began in 2007.

The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 114 billion dollars in trade in goods and services in 2010.

The EU has been pressing for a reduction in tariffs for export of its automobiles, wines and spirits to India. It has also been lobbying India to open its accounting, banking and legal services.

New Delhi has been demanding a higher number of professional visas and removal of the EU's labour market test, which requires employers to demonstrate no suitable candidates from within the EU are available before a non-EU resident may be hired.

During the summit, the EU was to also ask for India's help in persuading Iran to abandon its nuclear programme and return to the negotiating table, Rompuy told The Times of India daily in an interview.

The EU placed an embargo on Iranian oil and froze accounts of its central bank to compel Tehran to give up its atomic programme.

India, which imports 12 per cent of its oil from Iran, is not inclined to participate in the sanctions.

Climate change, energy cooperation and the situation in the Middle East were to also be discussed at the day-long summit, officials said.

The fragile security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as initiatives for stepping up counterterrorism cooperation and efforts against piracy in the Gulf of Aden were to also feature in the talks.

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