The Petroleum Federation of India organised a ‘Stakeholder Consultation on Energy Services’ under the aegis of the Department of Commerce, Government of India to seek inputs for a Broad-based Trade & Investment Agreement between India and the European Union.  The half-day consultation on February 27, 2009 at New Delhi was in knowledge partnership with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the Centre for WTO Studies of the Department of Commerce.

Welcoming participants Shri A. K. Arora, Director General, PetroFed drew attention to PetroFed’s role as nodal agency for coordinating matters pertaining to WTO for the oil & gas sector.  Lauding the role of ICRIER for their in-depth studies on India’s trade potential with the European Union, he considered the present times as the most opportune for negotiating favourable trade agreements.

Dr. Archana S. Mathur, Economic Adviser, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas elaborated on the potential for growth in Indian oil & gas industry and trade with the European Union.

Chairing the session, Ms. Bharathi S. Sihag, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India urged participants to voice their opinions freely to enable Government take them on board while formulating negotiating strategy.

Presentations were made on the Broad-based Trade & Investment Agreement between India and European Union by Mr. Amit Yadav, Director, Department of Commernce, Government of India and on their studies pertaining to consultation on energy services by Prof. Arpita Mukherjee and Ms. Smita Miglani of ICRIER.

The wide range of observations from industry associations, corporates, academia and Government/Semi Government organizations were noted and responded to by the officials present.

Click here to view programme and presentations.