<figure id="attachment_3266266" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3266266" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3266266" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/a2c65bde-antonio-costa-x-ursula-von-der-leyen-25012026.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3266266" class="wp-caption-text">European Council president Antonio Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are chief guests for this year&#8217;s Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
NEW DELHI: European Council president Antonio Costa arrived in India on Sunday, as the EU and New Delhi seek to seal a free trade pact, capping nearly two decades of negotiations between the economic behemoths.
Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are chief guests for this year&#8217;s Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on Monday before an EU-India summit Tuesday, where they hope to shake hands on the accord, described as the &#8220;mother of all deals&#8221;.
&#8220;President Costa is in New Delhi for the 16th EU-India summit taking place on Tuesday,&#8221; the EU Council said on X.
&#8220;The summit will be an opportunity to build on the EU-India strategic partnership and further strengthen collaboration across key policy areas.&#8221;
India, the world&#8217;s most populous nation, is on track to become the world&#8217;s fourth-largest economy this year, according to International Monetary Fund projections.
While the EU eyes India as an important market for the future, New Delhi sees the European bloc as an important source of much-needed technology and investment to rapidly upscale its infrastructure and create millions of new jobs for its people.
&#8220;We are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement,&#8221; Leyen said ahead of the summit.
Bilateral trade in goods reached €120 billion (US$139 billion) in 2024, an increase of nearly 90% over the past decade, according to EU figures, with a further €60 billion (US$69 billion) in trade in services.
The pact would be a major win for Brussels and New Delhi, as both seek to open up new markets in the face of US tariffs and Chinese export controls.
&#8220;The EU and India are moving closer together at a time when the rules-based international order is under unprecedented pressure through wars, coercion and economic fragmentation,&#8221; the EU&#8217;s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Wednesday.
Negotiations, however, are still ongoing, with talks focusing on a few sticking points, including the impact of the EU&#8217;s carbon border tax on steel exports and safety and quality standards in the pharmaceutical and automotive sectors, according to people familiar with the discussions.
New Delhi, which has relied on Moscow for decades for key military hardware, has tried to cut its dependence on Russia in recent years by diversifying imports and pushing its own domestic manufacturing base. Europe is doing the same vis-à-vis the US.

MatchPoint Times

EU council president arrives in India to seal trade pact

The leaders of the EU and India are expected to seal the so-called ‘mother of all deals’ at the EU-India summit on Tuesday.

Warga emas maut dalam kebakaran rumah

Tengku Zafrul, Zaliha appointed to PKR political bureau as ex-officio members