EU trade pact high priority, hopeful of working towards a FTA: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said India is giving “high priority” to the proposed Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) with the European Union.

He also said that India is hopeful of working with the EU towards a free trade agreement (FTA), possibly starting with a preferential trade agreement (PTA).

The proposed BTIA is stalled since May 2013 and the two sides are yet to iron out their differences.


“The BTIA with the EU is India's high priority. We are hopeful also of working with the EU towards a free trade agreement, possibly starting with a preferential trade agreement,” Goyal said at a diplomatic and industry leadership session on EU-India Collaborative Economic Growth. “We believe we have to work towards balanced, ambitious and mutually beneficial trade and investment agreements,” he said.

India exported goods worth about $54 billion to the EU in 2019-20, while it imported merchandise worth $52 billion from the block.

Goyal said removing barriers to trade between India and Europe is essential to move forward as the EU is India’s largest trading partner block, with about $105 billion trade in goods in 2019. It is also the second largest destination for Indian exports.