A senior government official in New Delhi said on Tuesday that India hopes to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) within a year. "Negotiations on the FTA [with the EFTA] will be commencing shortly. We believe that we will be able to conclude the EFTA trade agreement within one year," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are the members of EFTA, an inter-governmental organization that promotes free trade and economic integration between the four nations. A deal could give European companies that trade with India advantages over their U.S. competitors, and further underscores how Washington is being passed by other countries and regions that are moving forward on free trade. In January, India and the EFTA agreed to launch negotiations on the broad-based trade and investment agreement. The agreement is likely to cover deregulation of trade in goods and services, as well as investment, intellectual property rights and technical cooperation. Bilateral trade between the EFTA and India amounted to about $2.7 billion in 2006, the latest available figures. Meanwhile, negotiations between India and the 27-member European Union for a comprehensive agreement to deregulate bilateral trade and investment have apparently run into problems, according to Indian press reports.
Journal of Commerce
