New Delhi: Calling India and the European Union (EU), partners sharing the same ideas and highlighting the increase in the partnership between the two for the finalization of the free trade agreement (ALE), the director of Carnegie Europe Rosa Balfour shared the nuances of the ALE on the sidelines of the Carnegie technological summit.
Speaking to Ani on the increased consultations and discussions between India and the EU, Balfour said: “We are already seeing an extraordinary escalation because the EU and India are actually talking about the free trade agreement for more than 20 years.”
She noted that the two share similar opinions on several questions. “The EU and India on many questions are quite similar – they believe in the WTO rules, they believe that you have to work according to these rules.”
Speaking of problems between them, she highlighted the protection of agricultural products as an area. Note that they should be developed between the two parties, she stressed: “The bar was placed very high-the Prime Minister of India and the president of the European Commission said that they should conclude the free trade agreement by the end of the year.
She noted that an area of concern would be how detailed and nuanced.
“The question will therefore be how deep the FTA will be or how thin it will be? If there will be political problems around certain sets of goods or certain problems, for example, the climate or deforestation, which has been one of the problems that the EU has encountered with other countries, so it may be an Ale that will exclude certain areas,” she added.
By turning towards the positive side, Balfour stressed that with the FTA, the two parties will see a lot of potential in several ways of collaboration. She said: “There are a lot of promises in this (ALE). There are a lot of promises to increase the exchange of goods, people’s mobility, capital exchange, investment and technological cooperation. It seems to present the seeds of an alternative strategy to a world trade war.”
Previously, the German ambassador to India and Bhutan, Philipp Ackermann, had also declared that India and the European Union were trying to negotiate a free trade agreement (ALE) by the end of this year.
Speaking during the 9th Global Tech Summit Carnegie on Saturday during the “renowned panel: Sambhavna: then, what is the growing strength of Europe-India relations.
Ackermann had stressed the importance of cooperation between nations sharing the same ideas to support the world and free trade, declaring that “we must not forget that it is a moment now, when those who believe in World and Free Trade, should join the hands. This is the moment when, we have to sit together and try to understand what is possible at the time of an Ale,” he added.
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