NEW DELHI, Nov 29: India and the European Union on Saturday inked two trade agreements besides pledging to patch up their WTO differences, while New Delhi formally threw in its lot with the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system.
A statement issued at the end of the fourth India-EU Summit in New Delhi said both sides had also agreed to increase cooperation against terrorism and intensify steps to promote stability in Afghanistan.
The EU in the joint statement welcomed this week’s ceasefire in Kashmir between the Indian and Pakistani armies and expressed hope the move would lead to dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue.
One of the agreements, signed by Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha and EU’s Commissioner for External Relations Christopher Patten, paves the way for the implementation of the EU-India Trade and Investment Development Programme.
The 14-million-euro ($16.6 million) programme envisages major assistance to Indian exporters to meet strict EU norms.
The other, on customs cooperation, aims at facilitating trade by ensuring the removal of obstacles in the movement of goods between the two sides.
The joint statement said India and the EU had “reiterated (their) commitment to work towards further strengthening the multilateral trading regime under the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“We are committed to the successful conclusion of the current Doha round of negotiations as also confirmed by the ministers of the WTO at Cancun,” the statement said.
It also said India had agreed to participate in the Galileo programme “recognising the vital importance of satellite navigation and positioning of our economies.”
Indian officials said New Delhi would soon pick up a 350- million-dollar (300-million-euro) stake in the 3.2-billion-euro European satellite project, rivalling the US Defence Department- run Global Positioning System.
Earlier Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the meeting WTO talks could be nudged back on track if developed countries changed their stance on trade-distorting farm subsidies.
Millions of agriculture-dependent people in developing countries were being undercut in the global marketplace by billions of dollars worth of subsidies being doled out by rich nations to their farmers, he said.
“I think we should draw the right conclusions from the outcome of the Cancun ministerial meeting. We have to recognise that the developmental concerns of the poorer countries of the world are taken into account,” he said.
EU Commission President Romano Prodi agreed that it was time to move forward by learning from the Cancun debacle.
“We need a helping hand to push the Doha process. We should reflect on the sticking points at Cancun. The outcome was not satisfactory for us nor for you,” Mr Prodi told the meeting.
The meeting was clouded by the sudden cancellation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s visit to India as the head of the European delegation on Friday due to illness.—AFP