On 23/11/2009 the South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movement (SICCFM) organized a mass rally and blocked the new Mangalore port in Karnataka against the corporatization of land and sea, and the destructive cheap imports of food and crops because of WTO and FTAs
In a significant setback to India’s ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Free Trade Agreement discussions between the two sides have been postponed indefinitely.
Hundreds of farmers from across the State led by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha blocked the main entrance of the New Mangalore Port on Monday in a symbolic protest against the Union Government's policy allowing the duty-free import of edible oils.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh indicated on Monday that he was open to negotiating a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the US, on the lines of a pact inked in August with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's trip to India resulted in the beginning of an agreement between the two countries to work towards negotiating a free-trade agreement.
India and the US have signed two inter-governmental agreements on traditional knowledge, intellectual property and investment promotion during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first state visit to the US.
A new wave of investments from India to Europe and from Europe to India is likely to follow the India-EU free trade agreement which would take the bilateral trade to 160 billion euro by 2015, says the Indian Ambassador to France Ranjan Mathai.
Economic integration of all the eight South Asian countries posses a challenge to the political leaders of the region.
Though South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was operationalised from July 2006 the intra regional trade increased at a snail space from 3.2% in 1980s to only 5.5% in 2008, which is far below when compared with 58% in NAFTA, 54% in European Union, 25% in ASEAN and 22% in COMESA.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's current visit to India will be applauded by the Indian diaspora and recognizes both India's economic rise and its ability to weather the global financial crisis. The visit has replaced mutual indifference with mutual interest.