The EU’s Agriculture and Trade Commissioners Christophe Hansen and Maroš Šefčovič will travel to New Delhi this week to further negotiate a trade agreement with India.
Hansen and Šefčovič will meet their counterparts Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Indian media reported. The visit is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, a senior EU source told Euractiv.
A delegation of EU negotiators will, from today until Friday, also be in the Indian capital for a 13th round of negotiations. The European Commission has pledged to finalise the agreement this year.
Agriculture remains one of the thorniest issues in the trade talks. Delhi has traditionally been reluctant to open its market to imports, given the central role of farming in the Indian economy and labour market, where 44% of the workforce are employed.
But Hansen told Euractiv in June that if India insists on excluding products deemed “sensitive” to imports – notably dairy and rice – the EU would respond by blocking additional Indian sugar imports into the bloc.
The EU is also pressing India to cut its prohibitive 150% tariffs on spirits, eyeing a reduction similar to the UK deal struck earlier this year: a reduction to 75% immediately, with a phased drop to 40% over the next decade.
India, for its part, is seeking to diversify its trade partnerships and export markets amid souring ties with the US, its main trading partner. Washington imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods in late August.
(vib)
