The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the EU and India were pushing to obtain a free trade agreement during this year.
“I am well aware that it will not be easy. But I also know that timing and determination count,” said Von Der Leyen in Delhi, adding that such an agreement would be the greatest agreement in the world.
The head of the EU commission is in India accompanied by the entire college of commissioners – the first visit of this type after the European parliamentary elections in June 2024.
She met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
Speaking in the Indian capital, she said that the two parties wanted to deepen commercial and investment collaboration in large areas such as semiconductors, AI and clean technologies.
India and the EU relaunched the discussions on a long-term free trade agreement in 2021 and should hold another tour in March.
An India-EU summit is also held later in the year.
Von der Leyen also said that India and the EU pushed renewed safety and stability cooperation and exploring a future “security and defense partnership” with India similar to partnerships with Japan and South Korea.
Brussels wants to extend its relations in Indo-Pacific while cracks are deepening between the United States and Europe on commercial prices and Ukraine after Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Trump said he was planning to strike goods made in the European Union with 25%prices, saying that the block had been created to “screw the United States”.
The European Union said it would react “firmly and immediately against unjustified prices”.
Given the backdrop, analysts claim that solid trade and security relations with India have become greater than ever for the EU.
Until now, a trade agreement has been difficult due to differences in fields such as agriculture and manufacturing.
Despite renewed negotiations “, the two parties have little to show for talks so far”, the observer Research Foundation (ORF), said a reflection group, in a note.
However, some 6,000 EU companies operate in India and the Bloc is India’s largest trading partner in goods, bilateral trade reaching $ 135 billion (107 billion pounds Sterling) in 2022-2010, double in the last decade.
After years of skepticism with regard to free trade agreements, India actively signs agreements and negotiates with several countries and blocks.
India and the United Kingdom have restarted free trade talks this weekAlmost a year after the end of the negotiations before the general elections in the two countries.
Last year, India sign A free trade agreement of $ 100 billion with the European Free Trade Association (ALE) – a group of four European countries which are not members of the European Union – after almost 16 years of negotiations.
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