NEW DELHI: India and the European Union (EU) are working to deliver a commercially meaningful trade deal that will open up markets for goods and services to businesses from both sides, commissioner for trade and economic security of European Commission Maros Sefcovic said Thursday.
“In today’s uncertain times, our businesses are looking for opportunity, access and predictability,” he posted on microblogging platform ‘X’ after meeting commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal in Brussels. “The mutual benefit of our peoples and businesses will be central to our efforts,” Goyal said in his reply to Sefcovic’s post.
The commerce minister is on a three-nation tour of Europe. In the UK and Norway he has already held discussions with his counterparts on trade and investment. In the final leg of the tour he landed in Brussels on Thursday. After his engagement with the leaders of the EU, Goyal is expected to go back to the UK to announce the conclusion of negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement and Bilateral Investment Treaty with the UK.
Goyal’s visit covered all important trade partners with whom India is negotiating an FTA or already concluded one. His Oslo visit that ended on Wednesday covered important members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Norway. With EFTA, India had signed a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) in March last year. It is expected to become operational by June as the national parliaments of all four EFTA members – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – have ratified it. Now the pact is awaiting referendum in Swiss cantons (equivalent to states in India).
The FTA with the EU has a deadline of the end of 2025 for conclusion. India and EU started negotiations on FTA in June 2022 and so far held 10 rounds of talks. The 11th round of talks with the EU will happen in New Delhi from May 12 to May 16. Both sides are also willing to consider concluding their FTA in tranches so that the deadline is met. The discussions on FTA in phases is being discussed among the members of the 27-nation bloc.
The economic deal making worldwide has reached a feverish pace after US President Donald Trump initiated unilateral tariff increases that have left no country untouched. Faced with uncertainty every country is talking to whoever they can for deals that protect their exports and supply chains. In this process each country seems willing to be more open to trade and imports. The urgency seen in the case of the UK and EU to finish the negotiations that have been going on in some form or the other for the past 17 years is the case in point.
Source: The Financial Express
Political Parties In Bihar Competing With Each Other For Taking Credit On Caste Census 