India hopes to finalize Ale with the EU soon: Mea

Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs said that India hopes that the free trade agreement (ALE) with the European Union would be finalized soon. During the recent visit to the College of Commissioners, led by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, she and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to ask their teams to finalize the ALE this year, said Secretary West, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Tanmaya LAL.

“So this was a very clear direction. And the negotiations are underway. The two teams advance the process very strongly and we hope that the FTA will be finalized soon,” said LAL.

The visit took place earlier in February when the two parties agreed to seal a highly anticipated free trade agreement by this year and to stimulate the technology and cooperation of the defense.
The deadline to conclude the trade agreement which would be the largest of its kind in the world occurred more than 17 years after the two parties began negotiations for this. The talks for the pact were relaunched in June 2022 after their suspension in 2013.

The visit to India by the head of the EU committee, accompanied by the college of commissioners or the senior political leaders of the members of the block, occurred a few days after US President Donald Trump threatened the block with prices of 25%.