India, EU need to operationalise political will for FTA: German Ambassador Michael Steiner

NEW DELHI: India and the European Union should operationalise their "political will" to resolve the difficult but "surmountable" issues in concluding the free trade pact between both sides, German Ambassador Michael Steiner has said.

Emphasising that both sides cannot continue negotiations "forever" on the agreement, Steiner said that April meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin provides a good opportunity to decide on the issues.

"It is difficult but it is reachable. You know, last many things have been solved. The negotiators have done quite some work and most of the issues are either solved or we all know how a solution looks like.

"There are some outstanding issues which are also surmountable. So, therefore if we have the political will we can overcome it. But we need to assemble and operationalise this political will," Steiner told PTI in an interview here.

Discussions on finalising a free trade agreement between India and the EU has been going for around six years but both sides still have differences over various issues, including those related to duties on automobiles and wines.

India and the 27-nation European Union have been negotiating a comprehensive free trade pact -- Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) -- since June 2007. Germany is a key player in the bloc.

Stating that compromise is required from all sides, Steiner said that negotiations between India and the EU on free trade pact cannot go on forever.

"... why because in India we have elections that makes strong actions, of course as we all know, more difficult. And Europeans, on their side, will have to put their energy in other big projects," he said.

According to him, Europe would be starting negotiations for free trade pacts with the US and Japan.

"There will be free trade negotiations between Europe and the US starting. This consumes a lot of negotiating power. In addition to that, there is the plan that we have to start negotiations between Europe and Japan," he said.

In response to a query on major issues delaying the pact, the Ambassador said there is yet to be a consensus on tariffs on cars besides some issues related to the insurance sector.

"I think it can be solved. We need to have some sign from the Indian side on the issue of level of participation in the field of insurance companies. This is an important part," he added.

Noting that negotiations are going on constantly, Steiner said, "I think that what needs to happen is that we have full clarity in the next month where to close the deal and we need to close relatively rapidly".