NEW DELHI: While stating its intent to work on a “meaningful trade agenda” with the European Union, India has underlined the need for it to be “fair and equitable” and made it clear that there was a need to address tariff and non-tariff barriers.
During his first meeting with Maroš Šefovi, the European commissioner for trade and economic security in Brussels over the weekend, Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal also asserted that the cooperation on trade and sustainable development should factor in the respective level of developments of the two trading partners and “the principle of common but differentiated responsibility” should be followed that does not put additional burden on a developing country like India.
The high-level dialogue is a part of attempts by India and EU to work out a foundation for negotiations for a free trade agreement in which the European trading bloc is also seeking dedicated chapters with commitment on issues such as sustainability, gender and labour. India is of the view that European standards cannot be imposed on it given its level of development prompting the Union minister to lay down the stand while outlining the six key principles.
“India would work together with the European Union for developing cutting edge technologies, secure critical raw material supply chains and build resilient supply chains which will reduce dependencies on non-market economies and help developing closer economic ties between India and the EU,” said Goyal during the meet. He also highlighted the “common values of democracy” at a time when countries are reducing their dependence on China.
