Jaishankar meets EU Trade Commissioner as India-EU FTA talks set to resume

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday held talks with European Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in New Delhi ahead of a new round of India-EU trade negotiations.

In a post on X, Jaishankar said, "A pleasure to meet European Trade & Economic Security Commissioner @MarosSefcovic in New Delhi today. Confident that the Commissioner and his team will have productive discussions in India."

Officials earlier confirmed to ANI that negotiating teams from India and the European Union will hold a two-day round of discussions on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA), beginning Monday and continuing through Tuesday.

The meeting marks another step in efforts to deepen India-EU economic ties. FTA negotiations between the two sides were revived in June 2022 after a long pause. 

EU Ambassador to India Herve Delphin while addressing India's World Annual Conclave 2025 last week, said the current phase of discussions represents a complete shift in approach, describing it as "EU-India FTA negotiation 2.0."

"I would say it's not the same FTA negotiation as a decade ago. It's not a continuum. So please don't read this FTA negotiation through the lens of the past," Delphin said.

He added that both sides now share "a growing sense of shared necessity and complementarity," as reflected in the European Commission's visit to India earlier this year.

Delphin added that global trade tensions have increased the urgency of a predictable, rules-based framework.

"Of course, there is a sharpest sense of saliency because of the tariff wars that are going on, the tariff offensive that we see. So I think it's, this is an FTA when there is more than trade," the envoy said, addressing a panel discussion.

Pointing to the combined economic weight of both partners, he said, "If you think that the EU and India combined is 25 per cent of the world GDP, 25 per cent of world demography, that's nothing. So if you create an FTA between these two entities, that has a bearing. That has a bearing."

He noted the agreement would help both sides "de-risking this very fraught environment of the world economy," and emphasised that the EU's FTA record shows consistent gains for all parties."

It is a long-term benefit because the history of European FTAs with any partner, and you can check that with any partner, is a win-win. It's been mutually beneficial. Trade has grown. Jobs have grown. Investments have grown. So we are not in a zero-sum game. So call it the European art of the deal or whatever," Delphin said.

Delphin said there is "a strong political commitment to conclude the FTA negotiations by the end of the year."He noted that both sides have agreed to drop the traditional approach of formal negotiation rounds.

"Now we are in a continuous negotiating mode," he said. "As of tomorrow, you will have a 40 or so strong team of European negotiators coming to Delhi," he said.