L Satya Srinivas, Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce, said that the last (12th) talks in Brussels were concluded last week.
“We have exchanged our proposals on services and non-services … It was discussed. We also discussed important interests in the market-related market in the first week of September … The next round of talks (will be held).”
In June 2022, India and the 27-Nation European Union’s BLOC resumed a conversation for a comprehensive free trade agreement, an investment protection agreement and a compromise on a geographical signal (GIS) after a gap of eight years.
It stopped due to differences at the opening level of markets in 2013.
On 28 February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission Chairman agreed to seal a much awaited free trade deal by the end of this year. In addition to the demand for significant duties cut in automobile and medical devices, the European Union wants a decrease in taxes in products such as alcohol, souls, meat, chicken and a strong intellectual property regime. Exports of Indian goods to the European Union, such as prepared textiles, pharmaceuticals, steel, petroleum products and electrical machinery, can be more competitive if the treaty ends successfully.
The India-EU trade treaty talks include 23 policy sectors or chapters in goods, including trade, investment, sanitary and phytosaitary measures, technical barriers for business, business remedies, original rules, customs and business facilities, competition, business defense, government procurement, dispute, intellectual rights, geographical signs, and sustainable development.
India’s bilateral trade in goods with the European Union was $ 137.41 billion in 2023-24 (exports of US $ 75.92 billion and import of USD 61.48 billion), it makes the largest trading partner for goods.
The European Union market is about 17 percent of India’s total exports, while the European Union exports in India are 9 percent of their total foreign shipment.
In addition, in 2023, bilateral trade between India and the European Union was estimated at USD 51.45 billion.
