FTA negotiations, new strategic agenda in focus for Ursula Von der Leyen’s visit | Latest News India

NEW DELHI: Negotiations between India and the European Union (EU) on a trade deal, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, and the creation of a bilateral strategic agenda will be in focus during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to New Delhi this week.

Von der Leyen and 21 members of the EU College of Commissioners, or political leaders of the 27 member states, are travelling to India on February 27-28 for meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. The second ministerial meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) will also be held during the visit.

Modi and Von der Leyen are expected to review the negotiations for a free trade agreement, which the two sides resumed in 2022 after a gap of almost a decade. The two sides will also seek to advance cooperation in defence and security, including in the Indo-Pacific region, a senior EU official told a media briefing on Tuesday.

The two sides will take stock of “where we are and how we can push forward those negotiations” for the FTA, the official said. Describing India as a “relatively closed” market, especially for key European products such as wines and spirits and automobiles, the official said the focus will be on an “ambitious and commercially meaningful” FTA that covers tariffs, non-tariff barriers and procurement commitments.

“We still expect India to come up with stronger commitments and we are ready to respond to India’s requests as well,” he said, while declining to set a timeframe for finalising the FTA. “It’s difficult to say when we will cross the finish line with this important negotiation. For us, speed is less important than substance, so we want to get the substance right before committing us to a certain timeline,” he said.

In the context of security and defence cooperation, the official said the visit is expected to help give shape to the EU’s new strategic agenda for India that will encompass economic growth, competitiveness, technology and forging partnership at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty because of the policies of the US administration.

“India is one of those great powers with which we look to join forces on questions of security because of the security theatres we are fundamentally interested in, including a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific and the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, which is linked to Eurasian and East Asian security,” the EU official said.

Drawing a distinction India and China, the official said India and the EU have a similar outlook on concerns related to China’s assertiveness abroad and that Brussels perceives New Delhi as a “very important partner” to pursue an agenda of derisking, building resilience, and diversifying trade, imports and investments.

Besides having regular security dialogues, India and the EU conducted their first joint naval exercise last year and are also working together on cyber-security, counter-terrorism and crisis management. A new area for cooperation is security in space and India has shown interest in an agreement on security of information that could open the door for New Delhi to participate in European defence cooperation projects, the EU official said.

The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is expected to figure in the upcoming meetings despite the initiative running into problems in the Middle East because of the Israel-Hamas conflict. “We remain committed to developing infrastructure, to continue investments along this corridor and to build that connectivity where we are still in an early stage,” the official said.

Von der Leyen is expected to brief the Indian side on her latest visit to Ukraine and European efforts for a just and durable peace, including cooperation to enforce EU sanctions on Russia, the official said. “We can only emphasise how important Ukraine’s security is for our own security and how important Ukraine’s security is also for India’s security,” he said.