Exclude farming from EU-India trade deal, says German minister Habeck

India's trade ministry earlier said a free trade deal cannot be agreed upon if there is an insistence on getting access to the Asian country's dairy sector

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Friday said agriculture should be excluded from a free trade deal between the European Union and India in order to speed up negotiations for an agreement.

 

Habeck is in India with a high-level German government delegation. The EU and India have tried to secure a deal for years on free trade but without success. Habeck on Thursday had called farming the most problematic sector to deal with and suggested focusing on industry first.

 

India's trade ministry earlier said a free trade deal could not be agreed upon if there is an insistence on getting access to the Asian country's dairy sector. A trade deal could be concluded swiftly if sensitivities were respected on both sides, Goyal told the Asia-Pacific conference of German business in New Delhi, attended by German Economy Minister Robert Habeck.

 

Agriculture was the "most problematic" area in the deal talks, Habeck had said on Thursday, suggesting that it would be better for the two sides to focus first on the industrial sector.