Public CompanyIndia, Japan want to conclude trade pact by next year
Realising that their two-way trade does not match the potential, India and Japan today decided to give a push to negotiations on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with an aim of concluding it by next year.
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama instructed officials to sort out the "remaining issues" in the way of market-opening pact, negotiations for which began in 2007.
"We have decided to expedite our negotiations on the CEPA in order to conclude a high quality and balanced agreement. We are hopeful that this can be completed in time for the next Annual Summit meeting," Singh said addressing a joint press conference with Hatoyama after their talks here.
Agreeing with Singh on the need to firm up CEPA as soon as possible, Hatoyama said "main concerns" in the way of the pact need to be addressed to facilitate this.
He, however, did not elaborate but the sides are believed to have differences on opening up of sectors like services and pharma, particularly because of Japan"s apprehensions.
To make a point, Hatoyama said Japan"s investments in India are 1/20th of that in China.
A joint statement said the two leaders had instructed their officials to accelerate the negotiations by "energetically working towards resolving the remaining issues with a view to concluding a mutually beneficial agreement at the earliest".