A meeting between the Chief Negotiators of India and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was held in New Delhi to take stock of the status of the on-going negotiations for a Trade & Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA).
The India-EFTA TEPA negotiations had started in October, 2008. So far, 13 rounds of negotiations have been held at the level of Chief Negotiators. The last round of negotiations was held in November, 2013 and thereafter the negotiations had remained suspended.
The stock-taking meeting was held today in an amicable and constructive environment with both the sides expressing their willingness to jointly address the major outstanding issues and agreeing to an early resumption of negotiations and concluding a balanced agreement in a time-bound manner.