Q. ‘Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA)’ is sometimes seen in the news in the context of negotiations held between India and

  • European Union
  • Gulf Cooperation Council
  • Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
  • Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Answer: (a) European Union

Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA):
  • India and EU had launched talks for having a wide-ranging Free Trade Agreement (FTA), officially called broad-based BTIA, long ago in 2007.
  • The BTIA was proposed to encompass trade in goods, services and investments.
    • However, the talks stalled in 2013 over differences on market access and movement of professionals.
  • India is one of the EU’s important, if not the largest, trading partners due to the fact that India accounted for 13.5% of total trade in 2015-2016. Thus the BTIA is important for both the EU and India.
  • Both India and the European Union have been negotiating the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement for decades. The negotiations include many factors such as tariff reductions, market access and investments. The last rounds of negotiations happened in November 2013 and ever since then, the negotiations have been stonewalled. LAtest events like the Brexit and terminations of other overseas investment treaties might have a direct impact on the BTIA and negotiations are likely to resume in the becoming years.

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