{"id":53104,"date":"2025-09-04T21:25:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=53104"},"modified":"2025-09-11T17:06:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:36:03","slug":"eam-pushes-eu-india-fta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/04-09-2025\/eam-pushes-eu-india-fta","title":{"rendered":"EAM Pushes for EU-India FTA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/IR; GS3\/Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>India and Germany <\/strong>recently committed to doubling trade and expediting efforts to complete the <strong>India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) under negotiation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The German Foreign Minister was on a <strong>State visit to India.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both Indian and German Foreign Ministers discussed cooperation in <strong>semiconductors, student mobility, defence trade, and the India-EU Free Trade Agreement.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Both ministers underlined the <strong>importance of concluding negotiations for an India-EU free trade agreement <\/strong>within the target of the year-end.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India\u2019s Two Levels of Engagement<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>EU as a bloc: <\/strong>Regular summits, strategic dialogues on trade, tech, security, foreign policy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bilateral with major EU members:<\/strong> Deepening ties with France, Germany, Nordic and Eastern European countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India-EU Free Trade Agreement<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Negotiation Resumption: <\/strong>Talks resumed in 2022 after 8-years, talks stalled in 2013 due to market access disagreements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Objective: <\/strong>To finalize a comprehensive trade agreement covering goods, services, investments, and geographical indications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Negotiation Structure: <\/strong>The agreement will be concluded in two phases, following India&#8217;s phased approach used in previous FTAs (e.g., with Australia).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is partly due to the volatile global trade environment, including US tariff actions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the European Commission President agreed to seal the deal <strong>by the end of this year.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Focus Areas:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Market Access:<\/strong> Duty cuts demanded by the EU in automobiles, medical devices, wines, spirits, meat, and poultry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Services and Investments: <\/strong>The talks focused on areas like market access offers in goods, services, and investment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Regulatory Aspects:<\/strong> Stronger Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) framework.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Agreements on sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, customs, government procurement, and sustainability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India and Germany Bilateral Ties<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Establishment of Ties: <\/strong>India was among the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with Germany after the Second World War in 1951.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2021 marked the <strong>70th anniversary<\/strong> of the establishment of diplomatic relations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strategic Partnership: <\/strong>Since 2000, India and Germany have had a &#8216;Strategic Partnership&#8217; and 2025 marks the<strong> 25 years of Strategic Partnership.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Intergovernmental Consultations (IGC) in 2011<\/strong>: The IGC framework allows for a comprehensive review of cooperation and identification of new areas of engagement at the Cabinet level.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India is among a select group of countries with which Germany has such a dialogue mechanism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Defence Cooperation:<\/strong> Bilateral Defence Cooperation Agreement was signed in 2006 and provides the framework for bilateral defence ties.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Germany Participated in many multilateral exercises with India, such as: MILAN, PASSEX, EX TARANG SHAKTI-1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trade Cooperation: <\/strong>Indo-German bilateral trade touched an all-time high of<strong> US$ 33.40 billion <\/strong>with exports from India at<strong> US$ 15.09 billion <\/strong>and imports to India from Germany at <strong>US$ 18.31 billion in 2024.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India was Germany\u2019s <strong>23rd largest trading partner in 2024<\/strong> and Germany was the<strong> 8th largest trading partner for India in and is India\u2019s largest trading partner in the EU.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Development Partnership:<\/strong> Germany is one of India\u2019s biggest development partners (\u2248\u20ac24 billion committed).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Green and Sustainable Development Partnership (2022): <\/strong>Germany pledged \u20ac10 billion by 2030.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collaboration in renewable energy, metro projects, green corridors, and smart cities directly aids India\u2019s climate goals and SDG commitments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Multilateral Cooperation:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Support for India\u2019s permanent seat at UNSC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Coordination at G20, UN, WTO, COP climate talks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both emphasize rules-based international order and Indo-Pacific security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indian Diaspora: <\/strong>There are around 2.46 lakh (2023) Indian passport holders and Indian-origin people in Germany.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Indian diaspora mainly consists of professionals, researchers and scientists, businessmen, nurses and students.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Germany is significant for India as a <strong>gateway to Europe,<\/strong> a leader in green technology and innovation, and a partner in shaping a multipolar, sustainable world order.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The relationship complements India\u2019s priorities in economic modernization, climate action, skill mobility, and strategic security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/hope-eu-india-fta-will-be-concluded-soon-jaishankar-after-meeting-german-counterpart\/article70007725.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India and Germany recently committed to doubling trade and expediting efforts to complete the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) under negotiation.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>India-EU Free Trade Agreement<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Negotiation Resumption: Talks resumed in 2022 after 8-years, talks stalled in 2013 due to market access disagreements.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Objective: To finalize a comprehensive trade agreement covering goods, services, investments, and geographical indications.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Negotiation Structure: The agreement will be concluded in two phases, following India&#8217;s phased approach used in previous FTAs (e.g., with Australia).<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">This is partly due to the volatile global trade environment, including US tariff actions.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/04-09-2025\/eam-pushes-eu-india-fta\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53122,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53104\/revisions\/53122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}