India and the European Union plan to sign an interim trade agreement during the India-EU summit scheduled for May 8 in Portugal. The two sides also plan to sign an investment pact, which would help India attract more interest from investors in the region. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade for the EU, Vladis Dombrovskis had urged experts to consider the feasibility of resuming work on trade and investment agreements; new areas of cooperation (regulatory aspects and resilient value chains); as well as enhancing collaboration on WTO reform”.

The two sides had open and constructive exchanges on a broad range of issues with the aim of enhancing EU-India trade and investment relations. Their discussion will help in the preparation of the upcoming EU-India Leaders’ Meeting.’ The decision to hold this meeting was taken during the 15th EU-India Summit held on July 15, 2020. Both sides confirmed their interest in resuming negotiations for ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade and investment agreements once their respective approaches and positions are close enough.

The meeting also focused on the various key policy developments and market access issues. The EU side provided an update on the ongoing review of the Generalized Scheme of Preferences, which expires at end of 2023, and on the work towards EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism under the European Green Deal.