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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alex who wrote (52591)	5/11/2000 12:36:00 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116830

This would mean the import restrictions on gold into India would fall: Stock Quotes India-U.S. Free Trade Pact Seen as Mutually Beneficial By Suryamurthy Ramachandran CNS Correspondent 11 May, 2000 New Delhi (CNSNews.com) - The United States Embassy in New Delhi Thursday welcomed a call by India's leading industrial lobby for the establishment of a free trade agreement between India and the United States. A bilateral free trade agreement would boost trade and cooperation between the two countries, an embassy official told CNSNews.com. The Confederation of Indian Industry said Wednesday it had drawn up guidelines for a possible trade agreement with the U.S. Confederation spokesperson Jayshree Singh said the aim was to eliminate duties on all goods from the United States, something that would be phased in over the next 15 years to give Indian industry enough time to prepare itself for competition. "Conceptually Washington is in favor of free trade agreement with India, which is an emerging market," the embassy official said. "But the implications of phased tariff withdrawal have to be studied." Singh said tariff elimination should be carried out in three stages, with the first set of items freed within five years of an agreement being reached, the second in 10 years and the remaining in 15. Balu Dorai, managing director of Compaq India also welcomed the call, telling CNSNews.com that trade and investment would "substantially increase manifold if the free trade agreement comes into operation soon." The Confederation of Indian Industry said four major factors were providing the impetus for an Indo-U.S. free trade agreement.. They include the growing Indian community in the U.S., increasing contact at the institutional level, the presence of a large number of American companies in India and the India interest group in the U.S., and the rise of the knowledge sector. "The CII hopes that an Indo-U.S. FTA would lead to the vast potential of the Indo-U.S. economic relationship being realized," Singh said. "An FTA would not only have the beneficial side-effect of boosting commercial ties with the U.S., it would also improve business sentiments of corporations all over the world towards India." Singh said the free trade agreement should have specific provisions relating to issues like anti-dumping measures, subsidies and countervailing duties, invocation of non-trade issues and unilateral actions. It must provide for bilateral resolution, through dialogue, of disputes related to non-tariff barriers. Technical barriers to trade are another contentious issue between the two countries. The Confederation of Indian Industry said the free trade agreement should lay down a mechanism for harmonizing technical standards, inspection standards and procedures and quality controls, to eliminate such barriers. "The Confederation also recommends that issues related to knowledge-based industries and the service sector need to be built into the FTA." "The FTA must have clear and transparent rules on issues such as protection of patents, trade in knowledge products, e-commerce, Internet services, telecom equipment and services. Similarly, the FTA should lay out a clear, enforceable and time-bound action plan for addressing issues related to trade in services." The Confederation of Indian Industry suggested the formation of a high-powered negotiating committee at the ministerial level to forge the agreement. cnsnews.com\Economics\archive\ECO20000511e.html