India, EU vow to finalise FTA by end of the year

COMMERCE MINISTER MAY VISIT BRUSSELS LATER THIS MONTH

- FE BUREAU

AS OFFICIALS FROM India and European Union (EU) wrapped up their 14th round of negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) on Friday, plans are afoot for the visit of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to Brussels later this month before the next round of talks begin.

The Indian negotiators, who had started talks in Brussels on October 6, were joined by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal in the closing days of the round. Agrawal also met his counterpart in the European Commission (EC) Director General for Trade (DG-Trade) Sabine Weyand during the visit.

The 15th round is expected by the middle of November in New Delhi as both sides aim to finalise the agreement by the end of this year. As the deadline is approaching, the negotiations are taking place every month.

During his visit, Goyal would meet his counterpart the EC Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and other commissioners to nudge the negotiations forward.