EU Ambassador Delphin: EU India trade pact to double bilateral trade
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "EU Ambassador Delphin: EU India trade pact to double bilateral trade")
EU Ambassador to India, President FEBI Hervé Delphin speaks during FEBI Members Meet Decoding Eu-India FTA, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: (ANI)
The comments come as Indian and European officials work to finalise one of the most significant trade deals in recent years.
The European Union’s Ambassador to India, Hervé Delphin, has expressed strong optimism that the long-awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and India will come into force within a year, from the time the negotiations were concluded. Speaking to WION's Sidhant Sibal, Ambassador Delphin said both sides were “upbeat” about an early conclusion. “Entry into force comes either by the very end of the year or early next year,” he said.
This would mark a remarkably swift timeline. Negotiations were concluded only at the end of January, meaning the pact could be operational in under a year, a pace the envoy described as “pretty fast” given the complexities involved. Legal teams are currently undertaking “legal scrubbing” of the consolidated text, to be followed by ratification procedures in the EU and India.
The ambassador framed the agreement as a clear “win-win” for both economies, which he said are largely complementary. “Our experience with European FTAs is that wherever we have an FTA with a partner, the trade volume doubles. The value of trade doubles,” he noted.
The EU is already India’s largest trading partner in goods, and Delphin predicted that bilateral trade would double over the coming years once the FTA takes effect. He highlighted an ongoing outreach campaign to businesses on both sides.
“This time, we have between now and the conclusion of negotiation and entry into force is being used by both sides to reach out to the business community to say, hey, look, here you have a great FTA. There is a lot of potential. Tap into it, make best use of it.”
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The comments come as Indian and European officials work to finalise one of the most significant trade deals in recent years. The FTA is expected to reduce tariffs, ease regulatory barriers, and open new opportunities in sectors ranging from automobiles and pharmaceuticals to renewable energy and digital services.
For Indian exporters, the deal promises better access to the vast European single market, while European firms stand to gain from India’s growing consumer base and manufacturing ambitions.
