European Union 'very much willing' to go ahead with India FTA, says EU official Stefano Sannino
Secretary General, European External Action Service (EEAS), Stefano Sannin with WION's Sidhant Sibal
India and the European Union are deepening their ties with trade, tourism, and defence topping the list of priorities. In an exclusive conversation with WION's principal diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal on the sidelines of the Raisina Summit in New Delhi, the European External Action Service's Secretary GeneralStefanoSanninodelved into ties with India, Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations and more.
On key focus during the Delhi visit
Sannino said that the focus of New Delhi visit is how the two sides can grow and deepen their cooperation.
"We are working on a number of areas including the Free Trade Agreement, exchanges in investment between India and the EU, and the maritime sector," Sannino said.
On FTA and its status
Sannino said that the trade negotiations arenow in the seventh round of the FTA.
"We are very much willing to go ahead with it, there is political will and interest in both sides, and we have to keep time to find an outcome," Sannino added.
On the Russia-Ukraine war
Sannino said that for the European Union,Russian aggression is an existential threat.
"Russia is trying to create a post-soviet space and reestablish its influence.We need to make sure that we are aware of the consequences that we are creating for the countries around the war," Sannino added.
Speaking about the European Union's ties withChina, Sannino said that Europe has established a strategy to manage its relationship with China.
"We define China as a partner, where we try to put together global issues, it is a competitor because economically we compete, we want to be sure that this is done on a level playing field so that they're not misusing their capacity to intervene politically into the market," Sannino said.
"It is part of our strategy to engage with them.We want to reduce the risk of exposure to our economy and reduce the dependence of our economy as well," he added.
On India-Europe convergences, crises in West Asia and Red Sea
Describing theIndia-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) as a crucial "strategic project",Sannino said, "Things which we have tried to do together include starting of the IMEC in the Middle-East Europe corridor, which is a very important project, a strategic project, linking our continents in a project which should be open to people."