Free trade agreement, EU-India trade and tech council on agenda of EU chief's India visit: Official

New Delhi [India], February 25 : European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the European Union College of Commissioners will hold delegation-level talks during their visit to India, with a focus on Free Trade Agreement, the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC) as well as carving out some new agenda on various issues, a senior EU official said.
Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied by the European Union College of Commissioners, will pay an official visit to India on February 27-28 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the External Affairs Ministry said. The visit comes early in the Commission's new term, which began in December last year.
During the visit, a plenary session will be co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Von der Leyen, who is the executive head of the EU. The EU official noted that is the first visit of the European College of Commissioners outside of the continent, and indicates the symbolic partnership between India and the EU.
"This is the first visit of the college outside of Europe. It is always a little bit of a symbolic visit, in the sense that we tend to go to a strategically important and relevant place in the first mandate of President von der Leyen. Now we have actually a college to government meeting, a meeting with the entire government of India in New Delhi in India," a senior EU official said ahead of the visit.
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Last year, EU and India celebrated 20th anniversary of their strategic partnership, and now a new agenda is to be developed by both regions. India and the EU have been pursuing a free-trade agreement (FTA) for a long time.
"India is a strategic partner. We celebrated last year the 20th anniversary of the strategic partnership between the European Union and India. Now we're looking at developing a new strategic agenda with India. That is a commitment that the (EU) President made in the political guidelines that she presented last year in July," the official said.
Apart from delegation level talks between PM Modi and Ursula von der Leyen, the second ministerial meeting of the India - EU Trade and Technology Council and bilateral ministerial meetings between the European Commissioners and their Indian counterparts will also be held during the visit.
"We are obviously going to cover quite a lot of issues that will be done through individual contacts that start in the morning. All the members of the college that are going, we have 21 going will be having bilateral meetings with their counterparts to discuss their, let's say, portfolio issues. There will then be a plenary meeting that will be preceded, of course, by a bilateral between Prime Minister Modi and President von der Leyen," the official said.
The official mentioned that both sides will also be discussing the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) and the Free Trade Agreement, along with discussing a wide technology agenda.
"So the power of partnerships will really be at full display also in New Delhi, as we are taking stock and moving forward in these discussions. The FTA is one area. The TTC is another area part of the growth agenda. But there will also be a wider tech agenda with India Prime Minister Modi was in Paris also recently for the AI action Summit. India is actually hosting the next summit. So that's a great example of an issue where we expect to see more discussion and more cooperation as part of our new strategic agenda," the official said.
"On (February) 28 at the same time as the college visits, we will have the second ministerial meeting of the trade and Technology Council. India is country with whom we have this TTC, this platform for engaging on trade and technology," the official said.
The TTC meeting is set to take place on the margins of the EU College meeting on February 28.
"India is such a partner for taking forward that discussion. In that context, we will of course, be talking about the active negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement, an investment protection agreement, as well as an agreement on GIS and President (and Prime Minister Modi will be taking stock on where we are and how we can push forward those negotiations," said the official.
Earlier today, Herve Delphin, Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to India, spoke about the upcoming visit of the European Commission President to India, describing it as a significant moment for relations of both regions.
Delphin further said that this visit is intended to highlight the importance the EU attaches to its relationship with India.
He said, "This will be an important week for the EU and India relations. You will have, for the very first time, the President of the European Commission and the whole college, equivalent to a full government of the EU Commission, coming to Delhi for two days of talks. This visit is highly symbolic, and it speaks about the importance the EU attaches to the relationship with India. We both see each other as partners of choice but also as forces for good."
This is the third visit of Van der Leyen to India in the last few years. She was previously in India for the G20 Leaders' Summit in September 2023. Her last bilateral visit was in early 2022, when India and the EU resumed negotiations for a "free trade" agreement (FTA) in 2022, with the visit.
Prime Minister and President Ursula von der Leyen have also met regularly on the sidelines of multilateral meetings.
India and European Union have been strategic partners since 2004 and their bilateral ties have expanded and deepened across a wide range of areas. As the two sides enter the third decade of the strategic partnership, the visit of President von der Leyen and the EU College of Commissioners will pave the way for further strengthening of bilateral relations based on growing convergences, according to a press release by the External Affairs Ministry.
The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 124 billion worth of trade in goods in 2023 or 12.2 per cent of total Indian trade. India is the EU's ninth largest trading partner, accounting for 2.2 per cent of the EU's total trade in goods in 2023. Trade in services between the EU and India reached 59.7 billion euros in 2023, up from 30.4 billion euros in 2020.