BRUSSELS — India and the EU are intensifying their talks on a free-trade deal and will meet nonstop after making progress during a round of negotiations last week, the European Commission said on Monday.
“Teams will continue working at intense pace during the upcoming weeks, while intensive engagement at Chief Negotiators’ level will take place in a continuous manner both in virtual and in person format,” trade spokesperson Olof Gill told POLITICO in an emailed statement.
Negotiators met in Brussels last week and achieved “some progress” in outstanding areas, Gill said. They closed the chapter on sanitary and phytosanitary rules — an often-thorny dossier that governs agricultural trade.
Political engagement will continue between Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Gill added. That means no full-fledged fresh round of talks has been scheduled as the two sides strive to conclude their talks — which Brussels and New Delhi want to do before the end of this year.
“Negotiators also had detailed discussions on their respective offensive and defensive interests in market access for goods, both in industrial and agriculture sectors,” Gill said.
The talks picked up pace after U.S. President Donald Trump hit India with a 50 percent tariff in August over its energy purchases from Russia — dealing a shock to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. With the 27-nation EU also subject to a 15-percent U.S. baseline tariff, both want to diversify their trading relationships.
India sent its Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal to Brussels last week to “provide additional momentum” in the talks, Indian press agency PTI reported in an upbeat dispatch on Monday. Agrawal met with the EU’s highest civil servant on trade, Sabine Weyand, as both sides worked to “accelerate progress” on the long-awaited trade pact.
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