India-EU FTA: More Than 50% Chapters In Trade Pact Agreed Upon, Says Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that more than 50% of the chapters of the free trade agreement between India and the European Union were agreed upon by both sides.

Goyal said on Wednesday that the EU agreed to nearly 10 out of the 20 chapters in the FTA, which covered several areas. He further said that another four to five chapters have been decided on-principle basis.

He said that India intensely moved for its views on the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism in the FTA talks and that discussions on CBAM are "moving in the right direction".

The minister added that the negotiations were seeing convergence on more issues. He stated that the EU's representative delegation will be coming to India in the next week to discuss the FTA.

Goyal noted that India is looking to wrap up the deal when EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič visits New Delhi during November-end or December first week. This delegation will conclude technical-level negotiations on tariff schedules and market access. Goyal, himself, will be heading to New Zealand next week to "substantially conclude" the FTA talks.

The commerce minister concluded negotiations with Šefčovič on Tuesday, calling them “intense but productive”. He said that the two sides significantly reduced the number of outstanding issues between them after several rounds of high-level discussions.

Šefčovič called the latest round a substantive step forward, and said that the negotiators touched upon more sensitive issues and "progressed substantially across areas".

He added that both sides have given concrete guidance to their teams on industrial tariffs, one of the key areas where differences persisted.

The FTA talks, the goal of which is to deepen India-EU trade and investment ties, have entered their final stage, with both sides looking to conclude them by the end of the year. They held over 15 rounds of negotiations spread across two decades.