India, Spain emphasise need for EU trade pact

India and Spain on Wednesday emphasised the need for restarting negotiations for the European Union (EU)-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), as President Mariano Rajoy pressed for “solid progress” on the proposed pact, after holding talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The importance of making progress on the pact was highlighted in a joint statement issued after Prime Minister Modi met Spain’s top leaders in Madrid. Modi and Rajoy underlined the importance of EU–India relations and the need to deepen the existing EU–India dialogues. 

“They acknowledged the positive results of 2016 EU–India Summit in March 2016, which marked a new momentum in the EU– India relations. They reconfirmed their commitment to the EU- India Agenda for Action 2020 and to the development of cooperation in the areas of foreign and security policy, trade and investment, global issues, natural movement of persons and people to people contacts,” the statement said.