India-EU FTA TALKS: European Commission negotiators visit India this week to conclude a free trade agreement by December

By soon looking at their ambitious free trade agreement, India and the European Union will hold two cycles of crucial negotiations over the next month to overcome differences in the fields of origin, market access and tasks on wine and dairy products, said on Sunday September 7, 2025).

The commissioner for agriculture of the European Commission, Christophe Hansen, and the head of commerce Maros Sefcovic are visiting India this week to speak with their Indian interlocutors while the two parties seek to seal the free trade agreement (ALE) by the end of this year.

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The European Union is the largest trading partner in India with the bilateral trade in goods recording $ 135 billion during the year 2023-24.

In addition to the trade agreement, India and the EU are also strengthening a series of transformative initiatives, including a new political -strategic vision and key fundamental frameworks to extend defense links – of movements that have faced themselves in the context of increasing geopolitical uncertainty.

Significantly, the EU will reveal its new strategic vision of links with India on September 17 which will include key elements of its futuristic perspectives for relations with New Delhi.

The new measures should be unveiled at the annual Summit of India-EU which will take place in India in the first months of next year.

The two parties will also organize a series of high -level meetings and discussions in the next three months which include a visit to India by the EU political and security committee including envoys from the 27 member countries of the block.

India-EU terrorism talks are also planned for this month in Brussels while the Standing Committee of the EU Parliament on Trade will visit New Delhi in October. It will be followed by the Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum on November 20 to 21.

The next meeting of the EU-India Commerce and Technology Council (TTC) should also take place in November. Foreign policy and security dialogue between the two parties should also be held in Delhi.

The high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, is expected to visit India in December or January.

While the 13th round of negotiations for the ALE will be held this week in New Delhi, the next round is scheduled for the beginning of next month in Brussels.

The two parties have already concluded negotiations on 11 chapters which included customs and the facilitation of exchanges, the settlement of disputes, digital trade, the sustainable food system, small and medium -sized enterprises, competition and subsidies and capital movements.

Negotiations on several key chapters, including the rules of origin and access to the market, have not yet been concluded, have indicated the sources.

We learn that there are also problems related to non -pricing obstacles, but the two parties hope to resolve all disputed questions by finding the “good balance”.

In a telephone conversation last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the main leaders of the EU, Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, undertook to seal the trade agreement soon and stressed the importance of the Indian-EU partnership by jointly promoting global stability and promoting an order based on rules.

The new strategic vision of EU links in India will be analyzed by various member countries before being ratified.

The vision document, which should be the guiding light for the next phase of India-EU relations, should be adopted at the top.

To stimulate defense cooperation, the two parties negotiate an information security agreement and two other executives with a wider objective to accelerate defense links, in particular to jointly develop military and equipment, the sources said.

The next TTC meeting takes on meaning.

The TTC was unveiled in 2022 to facilitate the exchange of critical technologies relating to a range of fields, including artificial intelligence, quantum IT, semiconductors and cybersecurity.

TTC with India was the second technological partnership of this type of European Union after the first with the United States which was refreshed in June 2021.