Issue Brief on “India-European Union Free Trade Agreement: A Preliminary Assessment”

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Introduction

The European Union (EU) Commission published a Communication called “Global Europe: competing in the world” on October 4, 2006. The report had two parts; First discussed the internal EU trade policies and the second detailed its external policies. The latter highlighted the importance of multilateralism while recognizing the need to bypass the World Trade Organization (WTO) to establish bilateral agreements on trade and investment.[1] Under the auspices of its external trade policy the scheme is to gain access to potential markets through Free Trade Agreements (FTA), to which India presents as a great opportunity. On the other hand, FTA with the EU is also of interest to India as it would enhance India’s growing economy and support its agenda of a regional power and a global economic power.

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