Significant progress in talks on India-EU free trade agreement

NEW DELHI: There is a significant progress in the negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and European Union (EU), an official said on Thursday. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal was in Brussels last week to meet European commissioner for trade Maros Sefcovic to take stock of the progress of the negotiations.

“Good progress is there on India-EU FTA. There is a significant progress in talks,” the official said, without divulging more details.

During the meeting between Goyal and Sefcovic, the two sides agreed to build a commercially meaningful trade agenda and work towards a mutually beneficial trade pact.

The two leaders have also outlined political directions for both the teams to develop a mutually beneficial agenda for trade and investment and a robust FTA in an expedited manner to meet global challenges.

The meeting came ahead of the 10th round of talks between India and the EU, which is scheduled from March 10-14 in Brussels.

In the ninth round, both sides discussed trade issues covering goods, services, investment and government procurement along with necessary rules such as rules of origin, SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary), and technical barriers to trade. In June 2022, India and the 27-nation EU bloc resumed the negotiations after a gap of over eight years. It was stalled in 2013 due to differences over several issues. The total trade stood at $180 billion in 2023-24. India exported $75.18 billion in goods and $31.13 billion in services to the EU, while the EU exported $63.44 billion in goods and $31.35 billion in services to India.

At the same time, the ministry said, the EU is also a significant source of foreign direct investment, with total FDI estimated at $117.34 billion.