During the fourth round of negotiations, which ended last month in Brussels, India and the European Union (EU) sped up work on the negotiating texts for a free trade agreement (FTA) and began talking about the specifics of the exchange of offers on market access for goods, services, investments, and public procurement.
Divergences still exist despite the fact that both sides have a “deeper understanding” of the delicate topics in the trade chapter. According to the European Commission’s report on the fourth round of negotiations, India and the EU concurred to carry on internal discussions to resolve as many issues as feasible during the following round.
“Good progress” was made on several provisions of digital trade. The government procurement
chapter, which was based on the EU draught language with a few amendments put forth by India, was also covered in the negotiations. The two parties had “fruitful negotiations” regarding all of the text’s outstanding issues. The nondiscrimination tenet was among them.
The EU wants India to make legally enforceable commitments about public procurement, but India hasn’t been eager to budge on the touchy non-discrimination principle, which calls for treating both domestic and foreign bidders equally.
This fourth round was intended to forward text-writing efforts and enhance mutual knowledge of the key areas of convergence and divergence between the EU and India, following the third round, which signalled the start of meaningful negotiations. Another goal was to start discussions regarding the ways in which offers on market access for commodities, services, investments, and public procurement might be exchanged.