NEW DELHI, Feb 25: India and the European Union will take stock of their negotiations for an ambitious free trade deal and broadly firm up a new strategic agenda at a time Europe is looking at de-risking its relations with China this week.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied by the European Union College of Commissioners, is paying a two-day visit to India from Thursday to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Indian ministers.
The visit is aimed at finalising the broad contours of a new strategic agenda that is expected to be unveiled at the next India-EU summit scheduled to be held in ṭhe second half of this year in India.
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India and the EU are currently negotiating a free trade agreement, an investment protection pact and a geographical indications agreement.
President Leyen and Prime Minister Modi will be taking stock of where we are on the negotiations and how we can push them forward, a senior EU official said.
The EU is looking at an “ambitious” as well as a “commercially meaningful” free trade agreement that addresses tariffs and non tariff barriers, he said The official indicated that there have been issues between the two sides in terms of tariffs for wine as well as agricultural products.
For us, speed is less important than substance, he said declining to give a timeline for finalisation of the free trade pact.
India and the EU relaunched the negotiations for the trade pact in June 2022. The two sides had first launched the negotiations for the free trade pact in 2007, before the talks were suspended in 2013 due to a gap in ambition.
India and the EU are also set to explore ways to expand cooperation in areas of defence and security as well as new technology.
We are looking at boosting security cooperation with India as we are fundamentally interested in a free and open and secure Indo Pacific, the official said.
India is indeed a very important partner for the EU, including for its outlook on its neighbour China, he said.
The official said the situation in Ukraine is set to figure in Leyen’s talks with Modi and she may brief the prime minister on her recent visit to Kyiv.
Our side is expected to apprise New Delhi how important the security of Ukraine is for our own security, he said.
One specific point that I expect President Leyen to raise in the context of that conversation is not just our support for Ukraine, but also our sanctions that we are maintaining on Russia.
The official said the EU would want to continue intensifying enforcement of its sanctions against Moscow.
During the visit of the EU leaders, the two sides will also hold a separate meeting to review cooperation under the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC).
The TTC was launched in February 2023.
The TTC is facilitating exchange of critical technologies relating to an array of domains including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and cybersecurity.
The TTC with India was the European Union’s second such technology partnership after the first one with the United States that was firmed up in June 2021.
It will be Leyen’s third visit to India. She has earlier visited India for a bilateral trip in April 2022, and to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit in September 2023. (PTI)
