EU trade chief heads to India as deal talks make 'rapid progress', New Delhi says

EU Trade Chief Visits India as Free Trade Agreement Talks Advance

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will visit New Delhi next week, as talks on a planned free trade agreement make "rapid progress", Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

The report of advances in the long-running negotiations with Europe came a week after sharp hikes in U.S. tariffs on Indian goods came into effect.

Indian officials have said the discussions with the EU are in an advanced stage and the next round - also due to run next week - will be crucial to building consensus for a deal by the end of the year.

The three-day visit by Sefcovic, European Commissioner for Trade, will start on Thursday, Goyal told TV news channel India Today.

"We have been negotiating with the European Union 27-nation bloc for the last three-and-a-half years and making rapid progress," he added.

Talks for an India-EU free trade agreement stalled for eight years before resuming in 2021.

The EU has sought steep duty cuts on vehicles, medical devices, wine, spirits and dairy products, while India is pressing for greater access for its textiles, pharmaceuticals, steel and petroleum products, officials have said.

The EU is India’s biggest trading partner in goods, with bilateral trade hitting $137.5 billion in the 2023/24 fiscal year, up nearly 90% over the past decade.

Later on Wednesday, after a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU remained committed to concluding negotiations by the end of the year.

"To achieve this, progress is needed now,” she said on X.

Von der Leyen said India had a key role in pressing Russia to end its war in Ukraine and that the EU and India aim to agree on a joint strategic agenda at a summit as early as 2026.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi, writing by Hritam Mukherjee; Editing by YP Rajesh and Andrew Heavens)