Fortune India | 18 November 2024
India-EU to review FTA negotiations this week
India and the European Union (EU) representatives will meet this week to take stock of the
progress of the ongoing India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, commerce
ministry officials said.
The meeting, to be co-chaired by India’s Commerce Secretary and Director General (Trade) of
EU, will also discuss Trade and Technology Council issues and prepare for the next round of
High-Level Dialogue and political-level engagements on India-EU FTA.
According to the European Commission’s report on the 9th round of India-EU FTA
negotiations held in New Delhi during September 23-27, the two sides were not able to put
forward a concrete date for the next (10th) round of negotiations as such an assessment of the
progress of negotiations after years of intensive talks was pending at the political level.
The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 12.2% of total Indian trade, topping
the USA (10.8%) and China (10.5%). The region is the second-largest destination for Indian
exports (17.5% of the total) after the USA (17.6%).
The most recent round of talks – the ninth round of India-EU FTA negotiations had covered
20 policy areas in 78 technical sessions. Both sides focused on core trade issues covering
goods, services, investment and government procurement along with necessary rules such as
rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, technical barriers to trade (TBT)
and trade measures.
The European Commission’s report on the 9th round of India-EU FTA negotiations stated that
good progress was made in matters related to SPS measures, dispute settlement and good
regulatory practices during the 9th round.
Indian officials said the concerns of India continuing from the previous rounds of negotiations
were also taken up with the EU side during the 9th round of discussions. Indian industry and
other stakeholders are worried about the impact of EU’s national laws on various
sustainability measures like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and
Deforestation Regulation as it can hurt their export prospects to the EU.
Once the political level assessment happens, EU negotiators expect the next round of talks to
happen in Brussels in the first quarter of 2025.
The negotiations of the India-EU FTA were re-launched after a nine-year lull along with fresh
talks for a stand-alone Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) and a Geographical Indicators
(GIs) Agreement in 2022. The earlier negotiations were left off in 2013 due to differences in
the scope and expectations of the deal.
