If he is signed, an Ale between India and the EU would be the greatest agreement of the genre in the world. Describing India as the voice of the world South, the president of the European Commission qualified 2025 a point of inflection of history and declared that time was appropriate for a trade agreement between the EU and the greatest democracy in the world.
Declaring that the EU and India are faced with geopolitical and geopolitical opposite winds, the president of the European Commission said that many countries armed their sources of strength against each other – whether natural resources, new technologies or economic and military coercions.
Stressing the use of supply chains to gain corners of influence or conduct between nations and regions, it deplored an aggressive posture of the great powers and conflicts that have destabilized entire regions. It highlighted the need for countries, especially in the world South in the world, to seek alternatives in the midst of attempts to divide certain parts of the world into isolated fragments.
The declaration of the president of the European Commission, seeming a warning concerning the dangers and potential opportunities, comes before the tenth round of the negotiations for the ALE from March 10 to 14 in Brussels.
In the ninth round, India and the EU had discussed commercial problems covering goods, services, investment and public procurement, as well as the rules of origin, health and phytosanitary issues and technical obstacles to trade.
The EU wants a tax reduction for wines and spirits, an intellectual property regime and significant rights reductions in cars. Meanwhile, India requests data security status for its IT sector. The absence of data security prevented the flow of information sensitive to India.
In addition, exports of Indian products to the EU, such as ready -to -use clothing, pharmaceutical products, steel, petroleum products and electric machines, will become more competitive if the pact is successfully concluded.
The bilateral trade of India in goods with the EU during the year 2023-24 was worth $ 137.41 billion, with exports worth $ 75.92 billion and imports worth $ 61.48 billion, which makes India’s largest trading partner.
The EU market represents approximately 17% of the total exports of India, while EU exports to India represent 9% of its total exports. The bilateral trade in services in 2023 between India and the EU was estimated at $ 51.45 billion.
In addition to a free trade agreement, the two parties also negotiate an investment protection agreement and an agreement on geographic indications (GIS).
In June 2022, the ALE negotiations resumed after a gap of more than eight years, while the talks were blocked in 2013 due to differences on the level of market liberalization.
Although India already has a commercial and economic partnership agreement with the European Free Trade Association (including Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein), it is not yet ratified.
This means that India has not yet encountered the impact of a trade agreement with no European country. In addition, higher energy costs and the current conflict in Russia-Ukraine have wreaked havoc on European economies.
India and the EU seek to cover their risks with a trade agreement in the midst of a growing discourse on prices around the world.
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