India and the European Union (EU) are gradually moving towards convergence in terms of finalizing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. The Indian delegates and Goyal held a meeting with European trade negotiators, during their visit to Brussels from October 26-28.
“We have agreed to close 10 chapters out of 20. Four or five other chapters have in principle been largely decided. And on more and more issues, we are moving towards convergence so that when their team goes next week for the next round of negotiations or the trade commissioner goes to India, perhaps at the end of November or sometime in December, we should be able to make significant and substantial progress towards closure,” Goyal said while addressing the media on Wednesday.
EU trade negotiators will also travel to New Delhi next week to continue negotiations. Both parties agreed to respect each other’s sensitivities while reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.
Some of the main points of contention have been the EU’s safeguard duties on steel, India’s high auto tariffs and the carbon emissions tax. Commenting on CBAM, or the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Goyal said: “This is going in the right direction.”
The CBAM is a levy imposed on exported goods whose production results in carbon emissions above a certain threshold.
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