India and the European Union (EU) are preparing for the 14th round of free trade agreement negotiations in Brussels on Monday, as both sides aim to iron out their differences and finalize the deal by the end of the year.Senior officials from India and the 27-member bloc will hold a five-day round of negotiations, starting October 6. An official said the discussions would aim to resolve outstanding issues to help conclude the negotiations at the earliest.Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal recently expressed confidence that both sides would sign the agreement soon. He is also expected to meet European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in South Africa later this month to assess progress, with December set as the deadline to conclude the negotiations, PTI reported. The pact aims to boost bilateral trade and investment.Last month, Sefcovic and EU Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen visited India to meet Goyal and review progress in the negotiations.The proposed trade deal, relaunched in June 2022 after an eight-year hiatus, aims to boost trade and investment flows between India and the EU. Previous negotiations were suspended in 2013 due to disagreements over market access.The EU is pushing for deep cuts in tariffs on automobiles and medical devices, lower taxes on products such as wine, spirits, meat and poultry, and stronger intellectual property protection. For India, the agreement could make its exports, including ready-made garments, pharmaceutical products, steel, petroleum products and electrical machines, more competitive in the European market, according to the PTI.The negotiations cover 23 policy areas, including trade in goods and services, investment, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation, competition, trade remedies, government procurement, dispute settlement, intellectual property rights, geographical indications and sustainable development.The EU is currently India’s largest trading partner for goods. Bilateral trade reached $136.53 billion in 2024-25, with Indian exports worth $75.85 billion and imports worth $60.68 billion. The bloc accounts for around 17% of India’s total exports, while India accounts for 9% of the EU’s global exports.In the field of services, bilateral trade amounted to $51.45 billion in 2023.
About The Author
