THE Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, has said that India's negotiations with the European Union for a Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) are "on track".
According to an official statement, Mr Sharma expressed satisfaction over the BTIA talks during the bilateral meeting held recently with Lord Stephen Green, the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment. "Twelve rounds have been completed till January 2011", Mr Sharma said.
In December, he had stated that the BTIA talks would be concluded by "Spring 2011". Besides, Commerce Ministry officials had made known that the BTIA would be signed by 2011 and put into operation by 2012.
Mr Sharma had said recently that "India is one of the most promising destinations for foreign direct investment," and expressed the hope that free movement of professionals and service providers would help in deepening the bilateral economic relationship.
The Commerce Minister was optimistic about the rising trade and investment between India and the UK and disclosed that India's exports to the UK had posted 10.88 per cent growth during April-September 2010, over the same period of the previous year.
Official data indicates that India-UK trade dipped by 14.7 per cent to $10.7 billion in 2009-10. Of this, India's exports to the UK decreased by 6.44 per cent to $6.22 billion, while UK's exports to India plunged by 24 per cent to $4.46 billion.
The UK, which is the fourth-largest investor in India, brought in FDI amounting to $6.4 billion during the period April 2000 to December 2010.
Source : Exim News Service - NEW DELHI, March 16