EU in FTA with India, Canada

The European Union is on the brink of clinching trade deals with both Canada and India, officials have said over the past week. The negotiations for both of these high-profile agreements have faced a series of hurdles and delays in the past, with Brussels launching talks with New Delhi over five years ago and with Ottawa in May 2009.

German ambassador: EU-Canada pact could be done by February

Over three years after their launch, officials have stressed that the talks for the Canada- EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) have made substantial progress, with only a few obstacles left toward completion.

The two sides have reportedly been struggling over intellectual property protections, public procurement, and agricultural market access. Both sides had hoped to conclude the talks by the end of 2012, to the point where the country’s top trade officials - EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, and Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast - met in November in an effort to resolve some of the more contentious issues at a political level. That deadline, however, was ultimately left unmet.

After failing to reach an agreement by December, some observers have since suggested that there is even more pressure to get the deal done as quickly as possible.

However, officials have expressed renewed optimism as 2013 kicks off that the negotiations might be completed in the coming weeks.

According to a joint study conducted by the two trading partners, a bilateral deal could create real income gains of approximately €11.6 billion for the EU and €8.2 billion for Canada within seven years of implementing the pact. More specifically, increases in bilateral exports could amount to €17 billion, or 24.3 percent, for Brussels, and €8.6 billion, or 20.6 percent, for Ottawa.

The value of bilateral trade in goods between the two trading partners was €52.5 billion in 2011, according to European Commission data, with Canada ranking as the EU’s 12th largest trading partner in that same year. The EU, meanwhile, stands as Canada’s second largest trading partner after the US.

While officials hope negotiations will be completed by early February, both sides will still have to ratify the pact domestically before it can enter into force.

EU-India pact expected by spring, Indian ambassador predicts

Meanwhile, last week, Dinkar Khullar - India’s ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the EU - told EurActiv that he expected negotiations on his country’s planned deal with Brussels to conclude by this spring.

However, he cautioned, “whether the negotiators are able to do so will depend on both the negotiators and the political will.” Once completed, the deal is expected to cover over 95 percent of tariff lines between India and the EU.

Negotiators had been previously aiming to complete the Brussels-New Delhi talks - which have struggled over topics such as procurement and services - last year. At the India-EU summit, held last February, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso had announced that the two sides were hoping to finish the talks by autumn 2012 - despite earlier hopes that the negotiations might be done in time for the high-level gathering.

While trade with India amounts to only 2.6 percent of the EU’s exports, the EU is India’s single biggest trading partner. The value of EU-India trade grew from €28.6 billion in 2003 to €79.9 billion in 2011, according to the European Commission.