No breakthrough in India-Japan FTA talks ahead of PM's visit

Tokyo, Oct 9 (PTI) India and Japan Thursday reported
"progress" in their negotiations to reduce trade barriers but
failed to achieve a breakthrough to conclude a Free Trade
Agreement (F.T.A.) in time for a Prime-Ministerial Summit here
this month, Japanese officials said Thursday.

"We did not reach an agreement on the deal's outline in
the latest round of talks," a Japanese official said at the
conclusion of their latest high-level talks on the proposed
F.T.A. here.

Some Japanese Foreign Ministry officials had said earlier
that the government would strike a basic deal on conditions
necessary for concluding an F.T.A. with India before Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's scheduled three-day visit to the
country from October 21.

Singh would visit Japan from October 21 to 23 and meet
his new Japanese counterpart Taro Aso.

During the latest round of talks, the two sides made
progress on a number of key issues but stopped short of
reaching an agreement on ways to reduce trade barriers for
goods and services between India and Japan, Kyodo news agency
quoted officials as saying.

Japan and India would continue to narrow differences so
that the two countries can clinch a deal at an early date, the
officials said.

"There is still a possibility to reach a basic agreement
(on the occasion of the prime minister's visit), although it
is difficult to say how much possibility there is," a Japanese
Foreign Ministry official said.

Since January 2007, Japan, Asia's largest economy, and
India, the third-largest economy in Asia, have held full-scale
talks on an economic partnership agreement, which is also
aimed at improving investment rules, customs procedures and
intellectual property standards. PTI AKJ
PMR