India is committed to an early and balanced outcome of the European Union (EU) Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations, lok Sabha was informed on Monday. Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman said EU BTIA negotiations were underway and 16 rounds of negotiations have been held so far.
“Recently, two rounds of stock-taking meetings have taken place on January 18 and February 22, 2016. We are committed to an early and balanced outcome of the negotiations,” she said during Question Hour. Issues in the India-EU BTIA talks relate to trade in goods and services, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, intellectual property rights, technical barriers to trade, dispute settlement, customs and trade facilitation and procurement among others.
Sitharaman said the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the WTO aims to expedite movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit.