EU-India FTA opens doors to trade, AI, says Austria's State Secretary

The landmark EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is a transformative win-win pact that offers immense opportunities in trade, artificial intelligence (AI) and resilient supply chains, Austria's State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery Alexander Proll has said.

In an interview with PTI Videos, Proll has described the EU-India FTA as the "mother of all deals" that stands to benefit nearly 200 crore people and create one of the world's largest free trade zones.

"Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi visited Austria in 2024 because of 75 years of the diplomatic relationship and now, we have the free-trade agreement. It is the mother of all deals. I think it is a win-win situation for the whole European Union and India," Proll said.

The FTA, finalised after years of negotiations re-launched in 2022, eliminates or reduces tariffs on 96.6 per cent of EU exports to India by value and 99.5 per cent of Indian exports to the EU by trade value.

Proll highlighted AI as a key future area of collaboration, calling it "the next step after digitalisation".

"Our principle is that AI should serve for people ... a human-centred AI. We build human-centred AI around people to save democracy and make innovation happen. I think that is the way we can learn from each other," Proll noted.

On global supply chains, he emphasised building mutual dependencies rather than isolation to enhance sovereignty.

"It is not about being isolated, it is about creating dependencies on both sides. So it is all about getting closer to each other and the FTA is one part of putting the countries more together," he underlined.

The EU-India FTA awaits final legal vetting, ratification by EU institutions (including European Parliament consent) and Indian processes, with implementation expected in the coming months to a year.