Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will travel to Brussels this week for high-level discussions with the European Union on the long-pending India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as negotiations enter their final and most challenging phase.
According to an official, Goyal will be in Brussels on January 8 and 9, where he is scheduled to meet Maroš Šefčovič, executive vice-president of the European Commission and EU trade commissioner. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal will also be part of the Indian delegation. Goyal is expected to leave India on Tuesday night.
Ahead of the Brussels visit, the minister will stop in Liechtenstein on January 7 to hold talks aimed at expanding trade and investment ties. Liechtenstein is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), along with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. India implemented a free trade agreement with the EFTA bloc on October 1, 2025.
The Brussels visit comes at a critical juncture for the India-EU FTA, with both sides stepping up efforts to conclude negotiations that have been underway for several years. Officials say the talks have reached the most complex stage, with a number of sensitive issues still to be resolved.
Earlier, on December 15, Commerce Secretary Agrawal said negotiations with the 27-nation EU bloc had entered the “most difficult” phase, with both sides working to bridge gaps and move towards an early conclusion. One of the key issues under discussion is the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which could have implications for Indian exports, according to PTI.
The 16th round of India-EU FTA negotiations was held from December 3 to 9, during which discussions covered key chapters including trade in goods and services, investment, rules of origin and technical trade barriers.
India and the EU resumed negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement in June 2022, along with talks on an investment protection pact and an agreement on geographical indications. The talks were revived after an eight-year hiatus, following their suspension in 2013 due to differences over market access commitments.
The European Union is India’s largest trading partner in goods. Bilateral trade stood at $136.53 billion in 2024-25, with Indian exports valued at $75.85 billion and imports at $60.68 billion, PTI reported. The EU accounts for about 17 per cent of India’s total exports, while exports to India make up around 9 per cent of the bloc’s global shipments.
The EU has been seeking significant tariff reductions in sectors such as automobiles and medical devices, along with lower duties on products including wine, spirits, meat and poultry, and a stronger intellectual property rights regime. Indian exporters, meanwhile, see major opportunities if the agreement is concluded, particularly in garments, pharmaceuticals, steel, petroleum products and electrical machinery.
Overall, the India-EU trade negotiations span 23 chapters, covering areas ranging from customs and trade facilitation to government procurement, dispute settlement and sustainable development.
