India and the European Union (EU) have decided to set up a ‘trade and technology council’ to boost bi-lateral trade as a precursor to starting full-fledged negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) in June, government officials said on Friday, April 29.
The officials said that decision was taken during the visit of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s meeting with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi last week.
The council will aim at providing political-level oversight of the entire spectrum of the India-EU ties and to ensure closer coordination.
Formal negotiations with the EU for the FTA reached an impasse due to stark differences over market access issues after 16 rounds of talks between 2006 and 2013. Both sides have now decided to take the negotiation to its logical conclusion, Indian government officials said.
