{"id":34350,"date":"2018-10-30T17:09:02","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34350"},"modified":"2018-10-30T17:09:02","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:39:02","slug":"no-dilution-of-india-eu-trade-pact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/no-dilution-of-india-eu-trade-pact\/","title":{"rendered":"No dilution of India, EU trade pact:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-business\/no-dilution-of-india-eu-trade-pact-official\/article19921286.ece\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No dilution of India, EU trade pact<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India and the European Union are yet to finalise a date for re-launching their Free Trade Agreement negotiations stalled since 2013.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>India \u2013 EU Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) deadlock:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EU was quite upbeat on pushing the talks, which had started in 2007, and finalize a date for a formal round of negotiations to take place. However, India was not keen to do so unless both sides resume the talks afresh.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Conclusion of the FTA was the top most agenda of the European leaders, but India was more eager to discuss issues related to counter-terrorism and security.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What was discussed ?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The issue of <\/span><b>data adequacy and greater market access<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was discussed at length during the summit-level.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was almost mentioned as a passing reference in the India-EU joint statement, which stated that both sides agreed to \u201cre-engage actively towards timely relaunching negotiations for a comprehensive and mutually beneficial India-EU BTIA.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BTIA talks have been stuck mainly because over slashing of import tariffs on European cars and alcohol and recognizing India as \u2018data-secure\u2019 country that will enable a free flow of data between India and EU.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EU highlighted that<\/span><b> two-way trade that has reached $95 billion in 2016 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can be further boosted by having the FTA.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Trade concerns:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has allowed tens of bilateral investment treaties to lapse, including those with EU states, so it can bring these in line with a model treaty from 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another issue holding up the trade talks has been the <\/span><b>EU not granting \u201cdata secure\u201d certification to India. <\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>India does not have a stand-alone data privacy law yet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the state recently went to great lengths to create a false dichotomy between development and privacy during the right to privacy hearings in the Supreme Court, including, by (unsuccessfully) arguing that privacy was an elitist concern.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is India demanding?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other sticky points in the negotiations have been India<\/span><b> wanting a greater ease of movement of temporary skilled workers to provide services in the EU.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This EU and other developed nations have been historically reluctant about moving forward on this issue and this has become more challenging with the rise of populism and protectionism in Europe.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is EU\u2019s stand on it?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The EU wanting <\/span><b>greater market access for its automobiles <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and its<\/span><b> wines and spirits.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The EU is, commendably, at the forefront of protecting citizens\u2019 rights as regards what happens to their data online.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would certainly be a shot in the arm for consumer rights and privacy standards in the digital age if India were to adopt and implement strict standards for handling data, an outcome desirable in itself.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Way ahead<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India and the EU should continue to welcome each other\u2019s leadership roles in the world, because of commonly shared values.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>EU is India\u2019s largest trade partner <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and it is also, like India, wary of China\u2019s political (the summit declaration makes a reference to freedom of navigation principles) and economic dominance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EU is concerned about China flooding global markets with inexpensive steel and its response to China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative (OBOR) has been lukewarm, but the strength of China\u2019s relationship with EU member states themselves is heterogeneous, with China trying to make inroads into Eastern and Central Europe through infrastructure investments.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With around \u20ac100 billion in bilateral goods and services trade last year, India and the EU have a lot to gain from a trade deal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It will certainly pay for both India and the EU to keep each other close as they feel their way around the emerging international order.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No dilution of India, EU trade pact: Context: India and the European Union are yet to finalise a date for re-launching their Free Trade Agreement negotiations stalled since 2013. India \u2013 EU Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) deadlock: EU was quite upbeat on pushing the talks, which had started in 2007, and finalize a date for&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/no-dilution-of-india-eu-trade-pact\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">No dilution of India, EU trade pact:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704601786},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}