In Paris, Goyal should hold bilateral meetings with the French Minister of the Economy Eric Lombard and the Minister of Commerce Laurent Saint-Martin. Discussions should focus on deepening the indo-French economic partnership and the exploration of new routes for commercial and investment cooperation.
An agenda crowded with business commitments will see Goyal meet the main leaders of the main French companies, including Vicat, Totalennergies, L’Oréal, Renault, Valeo, EDF and ATR. The visit will also star the Round Table of India-France Affairs and the CEO forum in India-France to strengthen the dialogue between stakeholders in the two nations industry.
The minister should also meet senior EU officials, including Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Safety, and Christophe Hansen, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food. These meetings should accelerate the Ale talks between India and the 27 -member block.
Earlier, CNBC-TV18 reported that India and the EU aimed to finalize an early harvest agreement by July 2025, similar to that of India signed with Australia. This provisional agreement should cover key issues such as tariff and non -tariff obstacles, intellectual property rights, public procurement, technical obstacles to trade and health and phytosanitary measures.
India and the EU follow a two -step approach to the ALE, which includes separate negotiations on a bilateral agreement on investment protection and mutual recognition of geographic indications (GIS).
Negotiations cover 23 political areas, including trade in goods and services, investment protection, customs procedures, technical regulations, intellectual property rights and sustainable development. The EU put pressure for amendments to the Patent Act of India to allow “everything weaken” of pharmaceutical patents – a New Delhi problem previously resisted in Ale’s discussions with the United Kingdom and Switzerland to protect its generic drug industry.
During the financial year 2023-2024, trade in bilateral products between India and the EU amounted to $ 137.41 billion, Indian exports worth \ 75.92 billion dollars and imports to 61.48 billion dollars, which makes the largest trading partner in the EU in goods. The EU represents almost 17% of the total exports of India, while India represents around 9% of the world’s exports of EU products.
Also read: India, United States to conclude an interim trade agreement by the last week of June: Sources
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