India cautious as PM heads for EU

Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs visit to the European Union in Brussels over the next couple of days will be the first after the Lisbon Treaty signed by EU countries entered into force. The PM is all set to encounter a whole new set up: one which is very keen after a broader mandate through the treaty to have a deeper defence and security relationship with India,and also one that has agreed to step up the pace on a far-reaching Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement BTIA. India,sources said,would like to wait before expanding and deepening relations in sensitive areas as it has close bilateral ties with individual countries,which are EU member states. Even though the two sides have a security dialogue,the EU attempt to add more content and meaning to this is being treated with some caution. While India has agreed to cooperate on issues like the Somalian piracy threat,there is no urgency in New Delhi to go beyond so soon. Many argue there is gap that needs to bridged between both sides. Just recently,the EU moved the World Trade Organisation WTO,seeking to give concessions to exports from Pakistan on 75 items as a measure to help Islamabad cope with the consequences of flood disaster it faced. The benefit to Pakistan was about 100 million euros. While the amount was not much,India did ask the question in WTO on whether the principle of offering aid through such concessions was fair because few of these goods are common to other poor countries; like,some textile items were common with Bangladesh. Such differences apart,official sources said,the two sides are expected to announce the broad contours of the BTIA. This agreement is more like the comprehensive economic cooperation agreements which India has been negotiating with key economic powers. In the negotiations so far,some problem areas have emerged. India wants relaxation of EUs stringent food safety criteria that penalise Indian farm and fishery exports. Also,India is keen that BTIA will make it easier for Indian professionals to work in the EU. But EUs insistence,until now,to include core labour standards from the International Labour Organisation are seen by New Delhi as extraneous to the subject of the agreement.The EU,on the other hand,is pushing for major opening of its services sector and broad liberalisation of foreign investment. There are also differences in ways that government procurement is to be handled. The BTIA negotiations began in June 2007. Until now,10 rounds of negotiations have been held alternately held and while there are areas of dispute,a set of broad contours have been agreed to. The agreement seeks to remove trade barriers in goods and services and investment across all sectors of the economy. It will cover the entire range from sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures to investment,intellectual property rights and geographical indicators. Like the CECA with Singapore and other such agreements,it will also have a dispute resolution mechanism.