FTA with EU to be game-changer: EAM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 28

The proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union could be a “game-changer”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

“We expect the India-EU FTA will be a game-changer for the India-EU relationship. We look forward to a mutually beneficial, mutually advantageous conclusion to the negotiation process within a reasonably short planned timeline,” he said in an address at an event of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) which was also attended by Foreign Ministers of Denmark and Czech.

“I would like to say that India’s relations with Europe are stronger and deeper than ever before and this event itself is a testimony to that assertion. Between us, rests the largest democratic and free market space globally. The business communities of India and Europe have a large stake and an enabling role in this transformation,” he said.

India and the European Union had in June resumed negotiations for the trade and investment agreement after a gap of over eight years.

“India’s new approach to trade agreements addresses issues of non-tariff and behind-the-border barriers, quality standards and related benchmarks. With like-minded partners, we have actually demonstrated in recent years a fast-track change in our FTA negotiation processes. The FTAs with the UAE and Australia were concluded in record time,” he observed at the India Europe Business and Sustainability Conclave.

“Europe and India can strengthen each other’s strategic autonomy by reducing dependencies; cooperating on critical technologies; and ensuring supply-chain restructuring,” he said.

Focus on critical technologies

Europe and India can strengthen each other’s strategic autonomy by reducing dependencies, and cooperating on critical technologies. — S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister

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