NEW DELHI, Jan 26: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said a “successful India” makes the world more “stable, prosperous, and secure,” a statement that came ahead of a “historic” trade agreement between New Delhi and the European Union.
Ms von der Leyen, who is on a three-day visit to India and was a chief guest at the Republic Day parade, said it was an “honour of a lifetime.” She along with the European Council President Antonio Costa were the chief guests as the 77th R-Day parade.
“A successful India makes the world more stable, prosperous and secure. And we all benefit,” von der Leyen posted on X. She is scheduled to hold summit talks with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
At the India-EU summit, the two sides are set to announce the conclusion of negotiations for the much-awaited free trade deal. Days before her trip to New Delhi, von der Leyen said India and the EU were on the cusp of a “historic trade agreement” that would create a market comprising two billion people accounting for almost a quarter of the global GDP.
“I will travel to India. There is still work to do. But we are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement. Some call it the mother of all deals. One that would create a market of 2 billion people, accounting for almost a quarter of global GDP,” she said in an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos last Tuesday.
“And, crucially, that would provide a first-mover advantage for Europe with one of the world’s fastest-growing and most dynamic continents. Europe wants to do business with the growth centres of today and the economic powerhouses of this century,” she had said.
The European Union is India’s biggest trade partner, with bilateral trade in goods recording USD 135 billion in the financial year 2023-24. The EU and India had first launched negotiations for the free trade agreement in 2007, but the talks were suspended in 2013. The negotiations were re-launched in 2022.
The Indian government has agreed to immediately reduce the tax on a limited number of cars from the 27-nation bloc with an import price of more than 15,000 euros ($17,739), media reports said. This will be further lowered to 10% over time, easing access to the Indian market for European automakers like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, the report said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
