Ministers Of EFTA To Meet Piyush Goyal In Delhi On Trade Agreement This Month

Four ministers of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will meet Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on April 26 in New Delhi and discuss issues related to a proposed trade agreement. The present membership of EFTA is limited to four countries – Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. These countries are not part of the European Union (EU). "The ministers are coming on April 26 to discuss potential trade engagement and free trade agreement," Goyal said here while addressing a business meeting.

The EFTA is an inter-governmental organisation for the promotion and intensification of free trade. It was founded as an alternative for states that did not wish to join the European Community (EC). A Joint Study Group was formally launched on December 1, 2006, on the proposed Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA). The group was mandated to take a comprehensive view of bilateral economic linkages between India and EFTA and to examine the feasibility of the agreement. 

On exports, the minister said India's exports of mobile and electronics goods have doubled in the last year. "It has grown to $11 billion from $5 billion in a span of one year. Apple itself has exported about $5 billion worth of goods last year from India and they are planning to have 25 per cent of their global production coming out of India in the next 4 or 5 years," he said.

The minister told the business community of Italy that India provides the best investment opportunity for Italian businesses as it provides stable policies and a huge domestic market.He said that India has stable and predictable policy regulation, strong fundamentals and no retrospective regulations.