INDIA, KOREA LOOK AHEAD TO FTA NEGOTIATIONS WITH EU
Top officials from India and Korea have recently indicated that they expect to start free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the EU in the next few months. Agriculture, a perennial sticking point in trade negotiations, is not expected to pose too much of a problem: the two Asian countries share the EU’s reluctance to open their farm markets to foreign products.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said on 23 January that his government plans to initiate negotiations with the EU around March. The same day, Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told Finnish President Tarja Halonen that concluding a bilateral trade accord with the EU would be "one of the easiest," calling for talks to start "as quickly as possible."
The European Commission, for its part, in early December asked member states for a mandate to negotiate bilateral FTAs with India, South Korea, and the ASEAN community. EU sources report that member states are discussing the Commission’s draft proposals for a mandate in various working groups including the Article 133 committee, which is responsible for deciding trade policy. The Commission is hoping to receive their approval by March or April, possibly even at the 5-6 March meeting of the EU Council.
In line with the EU’s new trade policy strategy, unveiled last October, the Commission is believed to be seeking a mandate to negotiate far-reaching bilateral deals that cover goods, investment, services trade, public procurement, and competition. It also wants to target export taxes, address regulatory issues and intellectual property rights enforcement, and may even seek labour and environmental provisions (see BRIDGES Weekly, 11 October 2006).
The Commission expects to conclude negotiations with India within two years. EU officials anticipate that talks with Korea will take even less time, since agriculture will not be as contentious as it has been in the Seoul’s FTA talks with the US. They say that the main obstacles in the Korean market are regulatory, along with non-tariff barriers particularly in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries.
The South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) reports that the Commission is prepared to accord special and differential treatment (SDT) to ASEAN and Korea, but has not referred to it in its proposals for an FTA with substantially-poorer India.
"The EU approach to FTA talks with ASEAN, India, Korea," SOUTH-NORTH DEVELOPMENT MONITOR (SUNS), 17 January 2007; "South Korea to start free trade talks with EU in March," DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, 25 January 2007; "Korea, EU to start FTA negotiation in early 2007," THE KOREA TIMES, 27 November 2006; "European Commission requests negotiation mandates for bilateral trade agreements with India, South Korea, ASEAN," EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 6 December 2006; "Trade agreement with the EU one of the easiest: Nath," ZEE NEWS, 23 January 2007.