E.U.-India summit to launch talks on resuming FTA negotiations

Seven years after talks on a free trade agreement were suspended, India and the European Union (EU) are set to agree on a “High-level dialogue on Trade and Investment” to restart negotiations.

Analysis | India faces a year of tough trade negotiations.

officials said they had been fully briefed by New Delhi and Beijing about the situation at the Line of Actual control, as they were deeply concerned by the deadly clashes at the Galwan Valley last month, and they were ‘pleased’ that both sides have since agreed to military de-escalation and a continuation of dialogue to resolve the border issue.

are expected to conclude several agreements including a roadmap for cooperation, an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation and launch a maritime security dialogue as well as negotiations between Europol and the CBI.

The trade and investment dialogue, to be conducted between Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and E.U.

Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, is expected to give a kickstart to negotiations on the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) as the EU-India FTA is known, which have failed to be resumed despite several commitments by the leaders, including at the last E.U.-India summit in 2017.

Also read | India, EU to push for free trade pact again.

“The leaders have expressed their ambition to move towards a comprehensive free trade agreement and an investment protection agreement and we will announce a new dialogue which will give a political impetus to such efforts,” said E.U.

The Make in India programme was accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis and recent pronouncements that India wants to go ‘Self reliant’, didn’t help the situation,” the official said, referring to Prime Minister Modi’s launch of “Atmanirbhar India”.

The official said trade with India formed under 3% of the E.U.’s global trade, which is “far below” what was expected of the relationship.

is India’s largest trading partner and investor, and accounts for 11% of India’s global trade.

The official also said the E.U.

Speaking about the importance of multilateralism and cooperation on global forums, the officials said the E.U.

“The whole multilateral system is under stress and many experts have expressed doubts about the future of the global system,” said an official in Delhi ahead of the summit.

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