India is negotiating for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Malaysia and Japan and a broad based trade and investment agreement with the EU.
Foreign ministers of G20 major economies will meet in the national capital on March 1 and 2 to deliberate on pressing global challenges amid escalating confrontation between Russia and the West over the Ukraine conflict that entered the second year this week.
Auditing firms in the country could soon run out of business if they do not get themselves verified according to the guidelines mentioned in the Eighth Directive issued by the European Union (EU). EU will recognise balance-sheets of companies audited by firms that fit their specified standards.
The EU should eliminate tariffs on 95 per cent of the goods under the Free Trade Agreement instead of the 90 per cent being targeted by the India-EU High Level Trade Group, the industry body said.
Capping a visit that attracted controversy and opposition ire, EU parliamentarians visiting Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday termed Article 370 an internal issue of India and said they stand by the country in its fight against terrorism.
Oil producers cartel OPEC's share in India's oil imports fell to an all-time low of 46 per cent in April as purchases of cheaper Russian oil peaked, industry data showed. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations, mainly in the Middle East and Africa, had a 72 per cent share of all crude oil India imported in April 2022. This share slid to 46 per cent in April 2023, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
Even as the Group of Seven (G7) price cap on Russian crude oil enters into force as of December 5, India has been assured it will continue to receive the existing deep discounts on Russian oil, for the time being, informed officials. "We have been assured by our Russian partners of uninterrupted crude supplies at the existing rates for the time being. "There were a lot of reports of changes in (India's) buying patterns after the global price cap took hold.
India will need to travel back in time and seek inspiration from football greats Tulsidas Balaram and Chuni Goswami to deftly dribble around and sidestep the West-imposed price cap on exports of Russian seaborne crude oil. India depends on imported oil to meet 86 per cent of its needs, of which nearly a quarter now comes from Russia. The copious flows are roughly 10 per cent cheaper than competing suppliers helping India save billions of dollars in fuel costs.
'Keeping the global temperature below not just 1.5 degree Celsius, even 2 degree Celsius is beyond our reach now. Both are impossible.'
The EU's assistance comes as part of its 'strategic partnership' with India and will be made available by the European Investment Bank to ICICI Bank in the first-ever cooperation between the two financial institutions.
Khan said that India, which is a part of Quad, has imported oil from Russia despite American sanctions.
The United Kingdom has voted by 51.9 per cent to 48.1 per cent to leave the European Union after 43 years in an historic referendum.
European Commission has claimed that its agriculture proposal submitted to the World Trade Organisation is fair and a win-win with sufficient safeguards to protect food security of developing countries including India.
In 2007, India slashed the additional customs duty it charged on imported (which were up to 150 per cent of value of imports depending on the spirits), but simultaneously hiked the basic customs duties to 150 per cent from 100 per cent.
A day ahead of the G20 Summit, it was not very clear whether a consensus on the text to describe the Ukraine crisis in the joint leaders' declaration was achieved with China appearing to emerge as the main stumbling block to bridge the differences on the contentious issue.
Falling sugar production in the European countries would provide an excellent opportunity for Indian sugar exports to the European Union market, says a top government official.
India assured the EU it would put in place measures to ensure cargoes are free from pests
India processes around 90% of the world's supply of rough diamonds.
India will soon meet Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to seek a definitive rate of discount on crude oil similar to what Russia has provided so far, sources said. Multiple officials and industry executives said Iraq, which is India's biggest oil supplier, wants to discuss the level of discounts expected by Indian refiners. India's focus on snapping up ever-increasing volumes of Russian crude oil has led to a corresponding decline in imports from the Middle East. Flows from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have suffered as a result.
Vaz has been spearheading efforts in the UK to get the ban lifted.
India was on Friday guarded in its reaction to European Union farm ministers' 'historic' accord to reform its disputed Common Agricultural Policy.
UK and Sweden have asked the European Union to set up bigger and "more political" embassies in India, China and Pakistan to strengthen its relationships with these Asian countries.
Negotiators from the two sides will meet in July either at Brussels or Geneva, additional secretary in the commerce ministry D K Mittal told PTI.
The biggest question looming over the summit is whether there will be a joint leaders' declaration in view of the sharp differences between the West and the Russia-China combine on the text to describe the Ukraine conflict in the document.
It is high time the Indian government signalled discomfort with the UK providing refuge to those accused of financial crimes in India, states Jaimini Bhagwati.
The proposed India-European Union free trade agreement (FTA), which seeks to liberalise trade in goods and services, could be materialised by this year, EU Ambassador to India Joao Cravinho has said.
United States President Joe Biden is all set to visit India and is 'very excited' about the important initiatives he will be championing at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, according to senior White House officials.
Union minister Smriti Irani reacted furiously to the Congress leader's barb at the prime minister over the Rafale purchase and the tense situation in Manipur.
With an ambitious target to more than double their bilateral trade to $200 billion in the next four years, India and EU hoped on Friday they can resolve differences and reach a free trade agreement within a year.
While admitting India's persistent stand on the issue might delay the agreement, a top commerce ministry official said the talks were on track. "We will maintain a hardline stand," said the official. It is to be noted, the sixth round of EU-India trade negotiation in Delhi in March ended without any substantial progress because of the tariff-related issues. The EU is India's largest trading partner and the total bilateral trade stood at over $70 billion in 2008-09.
The supply shipment is being undertaken in cooperation with the Adani group and Linde company.
Besides firming up India-EU counter-terror partnership, the Summit in Brussels is expected to evince interest in other projects like cleaning of Ganga on the lines of River Rhine and Danube.
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