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India-EU Free Trade Agreement | INTERNATIONAL

talent, students, and researchers. This agreement will
promote trade, investment, and innovation. It will also
open up new opportunities in the European Union for
Indian students, workers, and professionals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that relations
between India and the European Union have pro-
gressed significantly in recent years. More than 800,000
Indians living in the European Union are actively
contributing to this progress. Currently, trade between
the two stands at 180 billion euros. New dimensions
of cooperation have been established between them,
ranging from strategic technology, clean energy, and
digital governance to development partnerships. Today,
India has concluded the largest free trade agreement
in its history. It is a happy coincidence that on the 27th
day of the month, India is entering into this FTA with the
27 Member States of the European Union. This historic PM Modi’s Focus on
agreement will facilitate easier access for our farmers Three priorities
and small enterprises to European markets, create new
opportunities in manufacturing, and further strengthen First: Today, trade, technology, and critical minerals
cooperation across our services sectors. Moreover, are being weaponised globally. In such a
scenario, there is a need to work jointly to
the FTA will boost investment between India and the de-risk our dependencies.
European Union and foster innovation partnerships.
Along with strengthening global supply chains, this Second: Both India and the European Union have
agreement will also serve as a new blueprint for shared focused on defence industries and frontier
technologies. At the business forum, PM
prosperity. Prime Minister Modi said that defence and Modi urged for increased partnerships
security cooperation is the foundation of any strategic in sectors such as defence, space,
partnership, which India and the European Union have telecommunications, and AI.
formalised. This partnership will deepen cooperation in Third: A clean and sustainable future is a priority for
counter-terrorism, maritime security, and cybersecuri- both. Joint research and investment should
ty. The scope of cooperation between the two sides in be increased in every sector, from green
the Indo-Pacific region will also expand. Prime Minister hydrogen to solar energy and smart grids.
Modi said that in the course of relations among nations,
there are moments when history itself declares that
this is where the direction changed, that this is where a
new era began. Today’s historic summit between India 22nd FTA Partner
and the European Union represents such a moment. The European Union has become
India’s 22nd FTA partner. The central
TRADE HAS DOUBLED IN 10 YEARS. government has signed trade deals with
Mauritius, the UAE, the UK, EFTA,
The European Union is one of India’s largest trading Oman, and Australia since 2014. In
partners. Over the past 10 years, trade between India 2025, India signed trade agreements with
and the European Union has doubled, reaching 180 Oman and the UK and announced the
billion euros. More than 6,000 European companies conclusion of a trade agreement with
operate in India. The European Union has invested over New Zealand.
120 billion euros in India. 1,500 Indian companies are
present in the European Union, and Indian investment

February 16-28, 2026 || NEW INDIA SAMACHAR 59