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123/A, Miranda City Likaoli Prikano, Dope
+0989 7876 9865 9
+(090) 8765 86543 85
info@example.com
example.mail@hum.com
India and
the EU have set a year-end deadline for concluding
the long-negotiated bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), which would be the “largest deal of this kind
anywhere in the world”. The
decision, taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EU President Ursula von der
Leyen in their bilateral meeting on Friday, comes at a time when US President
Donald Trump has issued fresh tariff threats to the EU and India, too, has been
warned of reciprocal tariffs in April.
The two
leaders also agreed to take concrete steps for the realisation of the
India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, boost digital tech, including AI,
step up security and defence partnership and enhance the dialogue on clean and
green energy with a focus on green hydrogen, per a joint statement issued after
the meeting. “We have directed our teams to conclude a
mutually beneficial bilateral FTA by the end of this year,” Modi said in his
press statement after the meeting. A
blueprint has been prepared for collaboration in the areas of trade,
technology, investment, innovation, green growth, security, skilling and
mobility, he added.
The two sides will move forward on negotiations for
an investment protection pact as well as on geographical indications as part of
broader efforts to boost investments, the PM said. “Timing and determination counts....this partnership comes at the right
moment for both of us,” Von der Leyen said, referring to a world fraught with
danger but not directly mentioning either the US or Russia.
Von der Leyen said the negotiations for the FTA,
the largest one globally, would not be easy, but the EU was committed to
making it deliver. The FTA negotiations,
which officially first began in 2008 and have seen several ups and downs, are
presently stuck over demands for stiff tariff cuts on auto and wines &
spirits from the European side and demands for easier work visas and greater
market access for labour intensive items such as textiles and leather from the
Indian side.
The EU is India’s largest trading partner,
accounting for €124 billion worth of trade in goods in 2023 or 12.2 per cent of
total Indian trade, ahead of the US (10.8 per cent) and China (10.5 per cent),
per EU figures.
