India-EU FTA talks in Delhi in September

Indian and the European Union (EU) negotiators will meet in New Delhi from 23rd to 27th September for the ninth round of discussions for an India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Both sides are expected to discuss core trade issues covering goods, services, investment and government procurement during the forthcoming round of negotiations, commerce ministry officials say. The negotiations will also cover issues such as rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and trade remedies, it is learnt.

The 9th round of official talks will also see Indian negotiators continuing to take up sticky topics that are of concern to Indian exporters including the impact of EU’s sustainability measures such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (a tariff on the production of carbon-intensive goods that are entering the EU), deforestation, etc.

Both sides have concluded two chapters of the proposed FTA, one on sustainable food systems and the other on small and medium enterprises during the previous round of negotiations. The eighth round of India-EU FTA negotiation was held till June 2024.

Commerce ministry officials say the joint committee formed by India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to review the existing ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) will also meet later during the year. The 6th AITIGA joint committee meeting is scheduled in India from 19th to 22nd November.

The previous round of review meetings by the joint committee held from July 29 to August 1 in the ASEAN secretariat Jakarta, Indonesia had reviewed the progress of all 8 sub-committees covering specific areas like National Treatment and Market Access, Rules of Origin, Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures, Sanitary and Phytosanitary, legal and institutional issues, customs procedures and trade Facilitation, Trade Remedies and Economic and Technical Cooperation. It was also decided to increase the frequency of such meetings to expedite the review process. Both sides are aiming to conclude the AITIGA review in 2025.

India is also trying to resume the talks with the UK for an FTA. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has already spoken to Jonathan Reynolds, UK Secretary of State for Business & Trade to identify the next steps that need to be taken on this front.