With sensitive agriculture issues kept out of the prospective free trade agreement between India and the European Union (EU), the negotiators from both sides are working on the last few remaining matters so that the deal is ready for announcement when the top leadership of the 27-member bloc visits New Delhi from January 25-27.
“There are few issues where negotiations are still ongoing. We are virtually engaged on a day to day basis and we are trying to see if we can meet the timeline before our leaders can meet. That will be a good occasion (to announce the conclusion). We are making the right endeavour,” commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal said.
Strategy of Agricultural Exclusion
He also said that contrary to the impression created by some news reports from Europe that agriculture has been kept out of the agreement, the FTA covers all aspects of trade. “My sense is, if I would guess, the DG Trade (of EU) Sabine Weyand, which has been quoted in that report, is that she meant that sensitive agricultural issues on both sides are out of it (FTA),” Agrawal added.
President of the European Council António Luís Santos da Costa and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will be on a State Visit to India from 25-27 January 2026 as Chief Guests at the 77th Republic Day celebrations.
During the visit, the leaders will also co-chair the 16th India-EU Summit on 27 January 2026, a statement by the ministry of external affairs said. The announcement of the conclusion could be made during the summit and signing could happen at a later date.
The 15th India-EU Summit was held virtually on 15 July 2020. Bilateral ties have expanded and deepened across a wide range of areas, particularly following the historic visit of EU College of Commissioners to India in February 2025, the MEA statement added.
Trade, security and defence, the clean transition and people to people cooperation will top the agenda of the discussions, a statement by da Costa’s office said.
Final Push
Agrawal said that the negotiations on 20 of the 24 chapters or policy areas covered by the FTA have been completed.
To give a last mile push to the negotiations, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited Brussels last week for a meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on January 8-9. Prior to his visit, high-level discussions between Agrawal and Weyand were held on 6-7 January.
India and the EU started negotiations on FTA in July 2022. Since then they have held 14 rounds of negotiations and have been constantly in negotiations since October last year.
The EU is currently India’s largest trading partner and a key investor. Bilateral merchandise trade between India and EU stood at $ 90.7 billion dollars in 2024-25 with India’s exports at $ 51.0 billion and imports at $ 39.7 billion.