India, EU ink N-pact, hope to clinch trade pact

NEW DELHI: India and the European Union (EU) on Friday inked a civil nuclear pact and agreed to expand cooperation on key trade issues ranging from climate change to reforming of global financial bodies. The two sides also decided to wrap up a free trade agreement (FTA) within a year.

“We have expressed the hope that the FTA negotiations can be completed in one year,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said after the 10th India-European Union Summit here.

Addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Singh said both sides reviewed the progress on negotiations for a broad-based agreement in trade and investment.

The FTA has the potential to double bilateral trade from over $100 billion to $200 billion by 2013.

To resolve the issue of Indian generic drugs consignments in transit being seized at the continent’s ports, customs officials from sides will meet in coming weeks, said EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton.

“Our commitment on pharma generic issues is to find a solution that works for India,” Ashton said. “Our customs officials will be meeting shortly to work through a solution.” Several recent seizures of Indian-made drugs were made at European ports on grounds of alleged patent infringement.

Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar and EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner on behalf of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) inked an agreement on civil nuclear energy, marking India’s formal participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.