Goyal ends Europe tour, pushes early India-EU FTA implementation
The commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal, on Sunday concluded a five-day tour to Spain, Belgium, Finland and Estonia, during which India sought to deepen
The commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal, on Sunday concluded a five-day tour to Spain, Belgium, Finland and Estonia, during which India sought to deepen trade, investment and technology partnerships with the European countries while advancing discussions on the implementation of the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Accompanied by a high-level business delegation, Goyal held meetings with ministers, senior government officials, industry leaders and investors across the four countries from 13 to 18 July. The visit focused on expanding bilateral trade and investment, strengthening technology cooperation and enhancing business-to-business engagement. Also Read | Finance ministry pushes for quarterly labour dialogue across public sector banks Spain In Spain, Goyal proposed an annual India-Spain Joint Commission meeting with business participation and unveiled a “10×10×10” vision aimed at increasing bilateral trade, investment and tourism tenfold over the next decade. Both countries also agreed to move forward with technical discussions on interoperability between India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Spain's Bizum digital payments platform.
The two sides identified opportunities for collaboration in the automotive, pharmaceutical, chemical, textile, renewable energy, tourism, and infrastructure sectors. Discussions also covered investment facilitation, mobility of professionals and joint investments in Latin America. Goyal also welcomed progress in the C-295 aircraft manufacturing programme under the 'Make in India' initiative. Also Read | Finance ministry asks PSBs to speed up JanSamarth lending, curb loan rejections Belgium During his visit to Brussels, he co-chaired the third India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) Ministerial Meeting, where both sides adopted the 2026-27 TTC Action Plan. The European Union also approved 21 additional Indian fishery establishments, taking the total number of authorized Indian establishments to 625. New Delhi raised issues related to the recognition of Indian ship recycling yards and proposed launching a dedicated India-EU dialogue on skills, education and talent mobility. Goyal also held meetings with European Council president António Costa, European commissioner for trade Maroš Šefčovič, climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen and European Parliament's International Trade Committee chair Bernd Lange.
The discussions centred on the early signing and implementation of the India-EU FTA, negotiations on the Investment Protection Agreement and Geographical Indications Agreement, cooperation on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), regulatory simplification and greater market access for Indian agricultural products, including Basmati rice. India also proposed setting up plug-and-play industrial clusters for Belgian companies and explored defence cooperation with Thales in areas such as counter-drone technologies and electronic warfare. Finland In Finland, Goyal met Acting Prime Minister and finance minister Riikka Purra and economic affairs minister Sakari Puisto to discuss expanding cooperation in artificial intelligence, 6G, quantum technologies, clean energy, circular economy, advanced manufacturing and innovation. The minister also met executives of KONE and Nokia, encouraging them to expand manufacturing, research and development, exports and digital infrastructure investments in India. He invited Finnish companies to use India as a manufacturing base for serving global markets.
The BriefWire