India and EU review Strategic Partnership, progress on FTA
New Delhi, Nov 9
India and the European Union held the seventh India-EU Strategic Partnership Review Meeting in New Delhi, reviewing the full spectrum of their Strategic Partnership, including trade and investment under the India-EU free trade agreement, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
"Secretary (West) Sibi George co-chaired the 7th India-EU Strategic Partnership Review Meeting in New Delhi with Mr. Matti Maasikas, Deputy Secretary-General for Geoeconomics and Interinstitutional Issues of the European Union," the MEA posted on X.
The two sides reviewed the progress in implementing the Joint Comprehensive Strategic Agenda, adopted at the EU-India Summit in January 2026.
"The meeting reviewed the full spectrum of the India-EU Strategic Partnership and progress in implementing the Joint Comprehensive Strategic Agenda. Discussions covered trade and investment including the India-EU FTA, supply chains and economic security, clean transition, critical technologies, research and connectivity, as well as talent mobility and people-to-people exchanges," the MEA said.
Last month, European Council President Antonio Costa said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Brussels in December to formally sign the India-EU Free Trade Agreement in a major step to strengthen economic ties between the two sides.
"Prime Minister Modi will come in December to sign the deal," Costa had said at an event organised by the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations in Canada.
India and the EU concluded negotiations on the trade agreement earlier this year. The pact is projected to create a market covering more than two billion people and accounting for around a quarter of the global economy.
On Saturday, India and the EU completed negotiations for India's association with 'Horizon Europe', the EU's flagship research and innovation programme.
"The association of India with the programme marks a strategic move into a long-term institutional framework of research cooperation between both sides, building on existing R and D projects and cooperation under the India-EU Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation and the India-EU Trade and Technology Council," an official statement had said.
The association will facilitate Indian researchers, institutions and industry to participate in the calls for funding under the Programme through collaborative research projects, and have access to European consortia and cutting-edge research infrastructure. It will also deepen talent mobility and lead to co-development of critical technologies, standards and solutions at scale.
— IANS
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