With Britain's exit looming before the European Union, efforts are on to ensure that crucial trade ties, which are a lifeline for the EU nations, are not severed. For this purpose, India, one of the main suppliers of food materials to the continent, has been offered a prime position in EU's upcoming trade and investment summit.
The European Chamber of Commerce has extended a Trade and Investment Partnership Summit (TIPS) to be held in Brussels during November 8-12 for nations with whom the EU has trade relations.
The objective of the summit is to create awareness on international business opportunities and feasibility of cross-border expansion for Indian and European business and to better understand each others' concerns.
"We have already sent an invitation to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to deliver the key note address during the summit," said Ravi Mehrotra, chairman of the Europe India Chamber of Commerce, one of the chief organisers of the business summit in Brussels. The platform will inform European investors about the benefits of GST and other FDI easing norms that the government has introduced in past two years.
During the seven-day summit, the government of India will hold a roadshow on the current FDI regime in India and the business opportunities for European companies, with focus on the sectors like defence, pharmaceuticals, smart cities, digital India, food processing and civil aviation, a commerce and industries ministry official informed. More than 200 participants from Indian and European countries are expected to join the policy roadshow at Brussels.
"The Summit will offer participants an opportunity to share perspective on the economic reforms from our business and industry point of view and also their expectations from the government," said the official, overseeing the planning for India's participation, before this trade summit is held in Brussels next month.
The Summit is being jointly organised with conglomerate of European trade and industry bodies, BusinessEurope, and in association with the Embassy of India. Important chambers of commerce, trade bodies and business organisations of Europe have pitched in as collaborators for holding this big ticket trade summit.
During the last two years, the government of India had taken several economic policy reforms aimed at inviting foreign investment in India and, as recently as in June, the government announced sweeping liberalisation of the FDI rules. With these changes, India is now the most open economy in the world for FDI, the European Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.
The summit would also decide on the future course of action for EU post BREXIT, later in 2017. Deliberations on overcoming the far reaching impacts of Britain's decision to exit from the EU on global trade will also be assessed during the meet.
Calling the BREXIT development ''extraordinary'' the EICC will organise a Colloquium titled: EU, BREXIT and India – Changing Landscapes, to discuss the challenges and opportunities for Indian business in the new scenario during the conclave.
