Austrian envoy Wieser urges stronger India-EU ties, calls 2025 'key year'

Austrian Ambassador to India, Katharina Wieser, expressed her optimism regarding the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union.

She also said that the India-Austria ties moving in a positive direction, and stressed the need for closer cooperation between India and the EU.

Speaking to ANI, Ambassador Wieser talked about the FTA negotiations and said, "I think it's something that has to come and that will come. We are very, very optimistic now. We have the political commitment from the highest level... It has to be a beneficial and partnership and agreement for both sides. There has to be enough in it for both sides to be able to sign this agreement. But I'm pretty sure that we will."

"And I think the geopolitical, the global situation at the moment is such that closer cooperation between India and the European Union is the thing to do. We have been saying quite often that 2025 is the EU-India year," she added.

Her remarks came on the sidelines of a cultural opera music event organised by the Austrian and German Embassy in New Delhi.

Noting that the ties between India, Austria and the European Union has been intensifying over the past years, Ambassador Wieser affirmed hope that the trend will continue in the coming years.

"I think that bilateral ties between India and let's say the European Union as a whole have been intensifying a lot over the past years and also with the individual countries like also with Austria. We saw many high-ranking visits as you know in the past years and in particular last year also with Prime Minister Modi visiting Austria. I'm convinced that the trend will continue. We have seen a lot of movement and intensification in all areas of our partnership, in the business sector, in the cultural sector, scientific cooperation," she said.

Notably, she observed that there has been a lot of interest from the Austrian side with delegations coming in across avenues such as political and technical level.

"So we are really, it's sort of really a very dynamic moment and are getting more and more interest from both sides, from Austria towards India and also the other way round. So I think we're in a good space", the Ambassador said.