India, EU will hold its next round of FTA talks from Monday to carry out early conclusions of Part I

India and the EU will hold the next round of talks from Monday on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the aim of ending the first phase of the agreement as soon as possible, an official said. The two sides agreed that an agreement was reached in two phases due to the uncertain global trade environment, especially due to the U.S. tariff action under President Donald Trump. “The EU team will hold the 11th round of negotiations here. It will last until May 16,” the official said.
The first part of the agreement will include the question of convergence. Their goal is to end the second part by the end of the year.
The last round of negotiations focused on market visits in goods, services, investment and government procurement.

India follows the practice of negotiating a trade agreement with Australia in two phases. It follows a similar approach to the United States.

“If some issues may not be the core of trade, and maybe spend more time, it’s better to focus on the core trade issues. So let’s start with the first thing… We’re also discussing the first possible early gain with the EU, where we can perform functional effectiveness.” The Secretary held a review meeting with senior officials involved in the negotiations on May 10. In addition to demanding sharp layoffs on automobiles and medical equipment, the EU hopes to reduce products such as wine, spirits, meat, poultry and a strong intellectual property system.

Exports of Indian goods to the EU, such as ready-made clothing, pharmaceuticals, steel, petroleum products and electrical machinery, will become more competitive if the agreement is successfully concluded.

On May 1, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal discussed the progress of the agreement in Brussels.

In June 2022, the EU group of India and 27 countries resumed negotiations after more than eight years of gap. It stagnated in 2013 due to differences in market openness levels.

On February 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of the European Commission agreed to reach a long-awaited free trade agreement by the end of this year.

India-EU Trade Agreement negotiations cover 23 policy areas or chapters, including trade in goods, trade in services, investment, sanitation and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, trade remedies, rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation, competition, trade competition, trade defense, government training, disputes, intellectual property rights, intellectual property rights, geographical location, geographical location indications, as well as maintaining models and maintaining status.

Bilateral trade between India and EU goods was US$137.41 billion (exports – US$75.92 billion, imports – US$61.48 billion) in 2023-24, making it the largest trading partner of goods.

The EU market accounts for about 17% of India’s total exports, while exports to India account for 9% of its total exports.

In addition, bilateral services trade between India and the EU is estimated to be US$51.45 billion in 2023.

The two sides are negotiating a free trade agreement, an investment protection agreement and a geographic sign agreement (GIS).

India and the United Kingdom announced the end of negotiations on a free trade agreement on May 6.