India and EU on Monday agreed to resume stalled WTO talks immediately by adopting a flexible approach to narrow the differences on contentious issues like agriculture.
In the clearest indication from the European Commission yet that a resolution to the ongoing dispute between New Delhi and Brussels regarding generic drug seizures had been reached, a senior EC official told reporters on Wednesday that the EU was "open to changing" the offending regulation.
The European Union including the United Kingdom has expressed concern over alleged adulteration of Basmati, the world's costliest rice, imported into the region and undertaken its own research to make quality assessments.
The 28-member European Union has temporarily banned the import of Alphonso mangoes, the king of fruits, and four vegetables from India from May 1, sparking protests from the Indian community, lawmakers and traders.
Fifty-two per cent of the Britons in Thursday's vote favoured leaving the 28-member EU, while 48 per cent supported staying in the bloc, according to a BBC forecast after counting of 70 per cent of votes.
Geopolitical headwinds leading to lower demand from export markets, coupled with lower domestic buying, have dragged the auction average of Darjeeling tea to its lowest level since 2015. Data from Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA) shows that the average price of Darjeeling tea at Kolkata auctions for January-December 2023 was Rs 319.74 per kg. The last time it dipped below this level was in 2015 at Rs 285.71 per kg.
Exporters in India are hopeful that the EU would soon lift the ban, which was imposed last month.
India's plan to sell the Advanced Light Helicopter to Myanmar threatens a European Union arms embargo to that country, Amnesty International claimed on Monday.
Opposes Emissions Trading Scheme, which requires carriers flying to or from Europe to offset their carbon emissions
Europe's deepest recession since World War II officially ended on Friday, as data showed the European Union was growing once again, following five straight quarters of contraction.
Last week, India lodged a complaint against the EU's measures on PET at the WTO, saying Brussels allegedly violated core provisions of the Agreement on anti-dumping as well as subsidies and countervailing measures. Under the WTO's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rules, the EU is required to terminate its measures after five years. But Brussels continued to impose them on the ground that the Indian exports could harm the European producers.
The eleventh round of talks between the two sides is scheduled to take place next month at the EU headquarters.
To tackle acute shortage of skilled workers, Germany has agreed to open its labour market for specialists from non-EU countries, including India, by easing the minimum salary requirement to obtain a residence permit.
At present, no harmonised set of admission rules and procedures apply across the European Union. EU has some 27 member states and each state has different regimes for work permit application, making the movement of high-skilled and specialised workers of a company within EU cumbersome.
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.
Genset manufacturer Cummins India has seen its share price rise by 45 per cent in the past three months. The management has reaffirmed that growth would be in double digits over the coming two fiscal years. Growth is expected to be driven by a pickup in domestic infrastructure spending.
According to Indian officials, both the sides have had "fruitful consultations" regarding elimination of tariffs on 90-95 per cent of goods, but the EU's insistence on including non-trade issues, such as child labour, labour laws and climate change, in the trade pact are coming in the way of concluding an agreement.
European Union trade commissioner Pascal Lamy will visit India next month to discuss issues involved in Indo-EU trade relations.
European leaders on Thursday agreed to triple its naval search mission in the Mediterranean, restoring its funding to last year's level. The decision comes four days after up to 900 desperate people drowned trying to reach Europe from Libya.
Indian mango growers are suffering daily and some have been bankrupted.
Around 75 tariff lines or products from Pakistan would get concessional access to European markets for three years.
Even though Bharat Forge's performance in the July-September quarter broadly met Street estimates and defence orders are on the rise, the subdued outlook for its global business has prompted some brokerages to adopt a cautious stance on the company. Analysts have reduced the company's earnings per share (EPS) estimates to account for the slow recovery of its overseas subsidiaries. Valuations are also trading at long-term averages, which could limit potential upsides.
European regulators have estimated that consumers are paying up to 20 per cent more for medicines in some cases.
Even as the Indian IT industry is studying the fine print of the European Union (EU) to expand the scope of value-added-tax (VAT) from January 1, to include services like back-office operations, call centre work and administrative services delivered from non-EU nations (including India), it does not appear to be unduly perturbed.
"As citizens of the United Kingdom take stock of their relationship with the EU, you should be proud that the EU has helped spread British values and practices - democracy, the rule of law, open markets - across the continent and to its periphery," he wrote.
Perhaps the most important thing that has come out of it is clarity about the extent of private sector involvement in the Greek bail-out programme.
May confirmed the deadline for triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which sets in place a two-year process of Brexit, as the first quarter of next year.
Opinion polls have suggested that while big business is broadly in favour of staying in the EU, small firms have been evenly split in what looks like a photo-finish.
Much will depend on turnout, with younger Britons seen as more supportive of the European Union than their elders but less likely to vote.
India will be able to bag extra orders worth $three billion for garment exports from the European Union, if the country enters into a Free Trade Agreement with the EU, apparel exports body said on Monday.
Despite all official assurances, the path towards a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) this year remains ambiguous, as both sides are unwilling to relax their stand on the biggest stumbling block - the issue of "data exclusivity".
Regional economic integration in South Asia, he said, is a priority for the EU.
The EU also feels that Tamil Nadu has adopted a restrictive practice for imported liquor. Significantly, a similar complaint by the trade bloc at the WTO led to the elimination of additional Customs duty on imported liquor in 2007.
The Russian president has expressed admiration for Israel's President Moshe Katsav, who faces sexual harassment charges.
Hit by the growing non-tariff barriers imposed by the European Union, India is likely to raise the issue at the day-long India-EU summit at The Hague on Monday.
India's efforts to include services in the proposed Framework on Agriculture and Non-agriculture Market Access have received a shot in the arm with the European Union showing willingness to extend its support.
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