India-EU trade deal set to conclude in next few days, Spanish minister says

NEW DELHI: A ⁠India-EU trade deal is likely to be concluded in the next few days, Spain's Foreign Minister Jose ‌Manuel ‌Albares said during a visit to New Delhi ‌on Wednesday.

"Everything is going forward perfectly. We do not expect any obstacle," Albares said after bilateral meetings with India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and president Droupadi Murmu in Delhi.

Consolidating the deal was an important ‌signal ‍of the EU's commitment to free ‍trade and economic security, Albares added.


"We need ‌to make clear to the whole world that we believe in free trade and have the instruments of dissuasion to protect ourselves from any economic coercion," Albares said.

European Commission ‍president Ursula von der Leyen is expected to arrive in India ‍early next ⁠week to ⁠finalise talks over the historic trade agreement which would create a massive market of 2 billion consumers, surpassing the EU-Mercosur deal signed on Monday as the world's largest free trade zone.