'Negotiations on CECA with GCC will be tough'

New Delhi, May 1: Negotiations with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), on a Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) would be ''very tough'', the government cautioned today.

This was stated by Ministry of Commerce Joint Secretary M V P C Sastry, while he was addressing an interactive session on 'India-GCC Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement' organised by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Mr Sastry urged Indian businesses to come up with detailed feedback on the type of market access they would like to seek, and also be prepared to open some sectors on the home front for imports from GCC-countries.

The FICCI-organised session was the first of the series of similar industry consultations to be held in different parts of the country.

The contours of an agreement with GCC are being worked out and it is unclear at present as to whether the final agreement would be a common services or an investment agreement with the GCC, Mr Sastry pointed out.

He told trade and industry representatives that the GCC was ambitious and wanted all items traded between GCC and India to be kept out of the negative list. GCC sought a drastic reduction in tariff in just two to three years, he observed.

He suggested that FICCI should set up an India-GCC Committee to add value to the studies conducted by the Commerce Ministry and get feedback received from the current round of interactions with trade and industry.

Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary Sanjay Singh underlined the need to develop vehicles for trade and industry co-operation and take advantage of the complementarites between the economies of the GCC and India.

India, he said, was focusing on a 'Look Near West' policy and we see a similar interest being reflected from the GCC countries.

''The fact that India was keen on a 'FTA plus plus' Agreement with GCC is a signal that India wants to engage with the region,'' Mr Singh stated, while acknowledging that GCC was not the most perfect mechanism for engagement.

He suggested that options were wide open to either have individual arrangements with member countries in parallel or with composite agreement with the GCC.

FICCI Foreign Trade Committee Chairman Suresh Chand Goyal underlined the need for a holistic trade agreement in goods with the GCC and evolution of standards and removal of technical barriers to trade.

He said that the potential items for exports to GCC were engineering goods, processed foods and pharmaceuticals, among others.

UNI