Overview
- EU Ambassador Hervé Delphin said both sides share strong political commitment to close the deal by year-end.
- Negotiations have advanced with 11 of 23 chapters closed, according to officials.
- Unresolved issues include market access for cars, aspects of services and investment, technical barriers to trade, and the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
- The visiting EU team will meet Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, and Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is slated to meet Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal this weekend.
- Officials frame the pact as a way to de‑risk trade with a predictable rules-based framework, with current India–EU goods trade at about USD 136 billion and the EU as India’s third‑largest partner.