This will be "breakthrough year" for India and EU, says former PM of Sweden Carl Bildt

Speaking with ANI, Bildt stated that both sides are committed to reaching an agreement by the end of the year.

"I think that we will have a breakthrough this year in the relationship between the European Union and India. There's a commitment now on both the Indian and the EU sides to have sort of an agreement concluded by the end of the year," Bildt said.

"It's got to be difficult. It's got to require compromise both from the European side and Indian side, but in the rather uncertain environment that we have for global trade with tariffs...I think that would be very important," he added.

Earlier this month, during EU President Ursula von der Leyen's visit to India, both parties directed their teams to conclude Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations by the end of the year.

An EU official also stated that the recent meeting was a preparatory step for an upcoming India-EU summit, with the date yet to be decided.

"This meeting was not a summit, but we are in fact preparing for a summit and we want to do that by joining forces, exploring ideas and by defining a new strategic agenda that will be taken to the summit and that will become for engagement between the European Union," the EU official said in a virtual media briefing.

Additionally on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom Karan Bilimoria urged PM Modi and UK PM Keir Starmer to sign Free Trade Agreement.

Speaking with ANI, he said, "It was during my presidency in 2022, that we started the negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement between the UK and India, the 5th and 6th largest economies of the world. We need to conclude this FTA now. We have had almost 14 rounds of negotiations and it has come to the stage where the best has to become the enemy of the good... At the moment, India is only the 12th largest trading partner of the UK, when it should be one of the three largest. An FTA will help that to happen. I urge PM Narendra Modi and I urge Keir Starmer to sign this FTA now.

Last Month, India and the United Kingdom resumed negotiations on a trade deal that is "balanced, mutually beneficial and forward-looking."

The announcement was made by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade of the United Kingdom Jonathan Reynolds, who is in the national capital.

Piyush Goyal and Jonathan Reynolds directed the negotiators to work together to resolve the outstanding issues in the agreement to ensure a fair and equitable trade deal for shared success.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Goyal said it will be "a pathbreaking free trade agreement" that will give the businesses and people of both countries huge opportunities to grow the current USD 20 billion bilateral trade in merchandise to probably two to three times in the next ten years. (ANI)