Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India and the European Union are committed to work towards a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement and an investment protection pact parallelly. Speaking at the closing session of India-EU Business Roundtable, Mr Goyal has expressed happiness at the landmark announcement made by leaders of India and EU on the resumption of negotiations for bilateral Free Trade and Investment Agreements. This session coincided with the 16th India-EU Summit. He said, together we shall strive for early conclusion of both the agreements simultaneously.
Mr Goyal said, India received its highest ever Foreign Direct Investment in its history, despite COVID-19, even while investments worldwide fell down. He said, the country is actively working towards improvement in ease of doing business rankings, in increasing competitiveness, de-bureaucratising systems and making procedures simpler while opening up newer sectors for more FDI and strengthening regulatory practices at the same time. The Minister asserted that India’s manpower skills and talent have contributed to businesses around the world. He said, the country can become a natural manufacturing base to make the products from European innovation, competitive in the world.
Terming the Indo-EU partnership as a win-win situation for both, Mr Goyal added that India apart from being an emerging manufacturing hub can also provide a large market base of over one billion people. He said, India has the potential to provide a competitive edge to European businesses by offering avenues of reasonable cost of production. The Minister said we are currently ramping up our vaccine production to increase its coverage. He appreciated the EU members for the support extended by them during the current COVID crisis.
Add Comment