India is counting on GermanyThe support of strengthening its relations with the European Union (EU) and accelerating commercial negotiations, said on Wednesday the Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, while calling bilateral trade with Berlin.
Jaishankar met his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, who is visiting two days in India, in New Delhi, the two ministers later calling for an increase in bilateral trade, including in the fields of defense and security.
“We are counting on your support to deepen our relations with the European Union and accelerate the negotiation of AFT,” he told Wadephul starting their talks, referring to a free trade agreement.
Trade negotiations
Commercial negotiations between India and the EU – which resumed in 2021 after being blocked for eight years – have faced obstacles on EU efforts to reduce import taxes on cars and dairy products while looking for more strict climate rules and work on Indian products.
India wants to protect local farmers, avoid rigid green rules and keep control of legal disputes.
While Jaishankar, addressing journalists after Wednesday’s meeting, said India would like the FTA to reach a “decisive conclusion” in the coming days, the German minister said that the agreement could be concluded in the coming months.
“If others set up commercial barriers, we must answer by lowering them,” said Wadephul.
The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, said on Tuesday that trade officials held talks in Brussels.
Wadephul’s visit comes a few days after the United States has doubled its prices on Indian products, imposing a 25% punitive levy on Indian Russian oil purchases, considered by Washington as the financing of Moscow war efforts in Ukraine, in addition to the initial 25% rate announced in July.
India has brutally criticized the United States and the EU, saying that it is unfairly distinguished by them on its Russian oil purchases when they exchange a lot with Moscow despite the war in Ukraine.
(With reuters entries)
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