Jaipur: Despite the fact that enlargement of European Union (EU) poses new challenges for its existing trading partners, it may emerge as a prominent trade and investment partner of India in near future, says an expert.

EU is a strategic trading partner for India whose nearly one quarter of exports go to EU member countries and one fifth of Indian imports come from them, yet India's share in the total imports of EU is negligible at 1.3 per cent, notes Ashok Bapna, who is head of Centre for Trade and Investment at the State Institute of Public Administration (SIPA) in Jaipur.

Although there would be some threats to Indian exports, particularly textiles, cotton yarn and readymade garments following the recent enlargement of EU, the net impact of enlargement would be positive for India because common external tariffs of EU are lower than average nominal tariff prevailing in the acceding countries except for textiles, organic chemicals and leather products, Bapna said.

He told sources that India should try to develop its trade relations with EU and work towards gaining preferential and duty-free access.

Bapna would present a paper on 'Enlargement of the European Union: Framework for Better Economic Ties with India' at an international conference on 'Europe and the South' at Hague in Netherlands on Sep 27, 2004 and Sep 28, 2004.