European Union is not contemplating signing free trade agreement with India in the near future and will focus on completion of contentious World Trade Organisation negotiations including agriculture and Singapore issues, an EU official said on Friday.
EU paper may propose FTA with India
FTA was not a priority nor had that been suggested to the EU officially by the Indian government, EU Ambassador to India Francisco Gomes said at a seminar on EU enlargement organised by the World Trade Centre.
The FTA talks would not assist in the progress of WTO negotiations, Gomes added.
On the impact of enlargement of EU membership on India, he said it would bring large welfare gains to India.
The bilateral trade between India and the ten countries, which have recently joined the EU is in India's favour and Indian exporters are going to benefit more from integration of these countries with EU, he added.
The 10 countries, which have joined the union from May 1, 2004 are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.
