Trade pact with EU possible by year-end: FM Sitharaman

If the collective effort is to get the world greener, global economy has to become greener, Sitharaman said

- Gireesh Chandra Prasad

India accords a high priority to a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU), and a deal is achievable by the year-end given the shared urgency, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a conference on 'cross border collaboration for future resilience' on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) 58th annual meeting in Milan, Sitharaman said bilateral deals are now necessitated by rising geopolitical uncertainties, supply-chain fragmentation and the way US reciprocal tariffs have panned out.

"Countries are today very clearly looking at bilateral arrangements. India has been negotiating with the UK and EU for some time. But today, the sense of urgency is felt by both the sides," the FM said.