Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said he could predict “with quite confidence” that 2026 would see an improvement in India’s ties with Europe and that Luxembourg could provide support to strengthen New Delhi’s relations with the European Union.
Pointing out that there is some volatility and unpredictability in the world and every country, every region is reassessing its interests and calculations, Jaishankar said countries are saying “it is not enough to reduce risks. Maybe we should build closer friendships and deeper partnerships.”
“So are there other special countries, special relationships that we can trust more than others? And I think common sense today is bringing India and the European Union much closer,” Mr. Jaishankar said during his interaction with the Indian community in Luxembourg.
“So I can predict quite confidently that 2026 will see an improvement in ties with Europe. You will see, certainly, I can speak from the Indian side, you will see a much greater investment of time, energy and attention from us as far as Europe is concerned,” he said.
Mr. Jaishankar, who is on a six-day visit to France and Luxembourg, on Tuesday shared the video of his interaction with the Indian community and also said in another message: “Delighted to interact with members of the Indian community in Luxembourg today. This underlined the significant deepening of our partnership with Luxembourg in the political, trade and technological fields.”
“Appreciate the contributions of our diaspora towards deepening ties between India and Luxembourg,” Mr. Jaishankar said during his maiden visit to Luxembourg.
Earlier in the morning, Mr. Jaishankar met Prime Minister Luc Frieden, had a long and detailed meeting with Foreign Minister Javier Bethel and visited William V, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. “It really was a very, very productive and very satisfying day,” he said.
The minister began his speech during the interaction by stating that at all his meetings in Luxembourg, “I have heard very strong and very effusive words of praise for the Indian community.”
Speaking about India’s relations with Luzembourge, Mr. Jaishankar said: “As we seek to strengthen these relations with the European Union (EU), the support that Luxembourg can give us, the influence that it will have on… collective decision-making in Brussels is really very important, and I have received full assurance that we are currently at a very advanced stage of negotiating a free trade agreement.
Drawing attention to the fact that India was doing “a lot more and a lot differently than before”, the minister said, so a lot of the discussions were “about how the digital infrastructure worked in India, how the space industry took off”.
“We of course have very great respect for Luxembourg’s long-standing satellite capabilities, but they were obviously also following us in this area, and many questions and interests were expressed in this regard,” he said.
Responding to a question on the free trade agreement regarding agricultural products and family businesses, he said: “Tariffs are only part of the problem. We often deal with very complex issues of standards. You know, you mentioned rice in particular, there are debates regarding residues and so on.”
“Sometimes the paperwork involved, the number of things you have to do is very onerous. Sometimes the tariffs are a barrier, but these rules and regulations are another wall that you have to overcome,” he said, adding that such deals take a long time “precisely because of all these complexities that we have to go through, the details, we have to look at the products that we export and then go through the experience, okay, what was the experience over the 10, Last 15 or 20 years.”
“As an economy, as a country, today we have become much more committed to getting our products out into the world. In fact, despite all the volatility of tariffs this year, our exports have done quite well, much better than people expected.”
“In recent years we have concluded a number of free trade agreements. Last month we signed one with Oman. We finalized one with New Zealand,” he said, while pointing out that some of them may not be that important, “but believe me, each item adds something, some exporters get new opportunities with each new trade agreement.”
Thanking the Indian community, he said he was proud of the image and reputation it has built in Luxembourg and urged members to further build on this to support India in its efforts to take the bilateral relationship to a higher level. “Perhaps you also have some advice to give me,” he said, sending bursts of laughter.
Published – January 8, 2026 at 08:32 IST
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