Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his French counterpart Franck Riester reviewed bilateral trade and investment relations and discussed ways to foster greater ease of doing business in a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.
The two Ministers also discussed the on-going talks on a India-EU FTA and the negotiations at the WTO on curbing harmful fisheries subsidies and improving access to Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
“With my Indian counterpart Shri Piyush Goyal in Delhi to take our bilateral relationship further, continue EU-India trade negotiations, and exchange views on the ongoing WTO negotiations on fisheries and vaccines,” Riester tweeted after his meeting with Goyal.
Attracting investors
The French Minister, who is in India on a two-day visit, also met representatives of Indian industry and discussed ways in which France can become a more attractive destination for investors.
“Minister Franck Riester met Indian industry leaders & heard their views on how France can welcome more Indian companies. The Minister highlighted France’s pro-business reforms, top European FDI destination status & its advantages as a gateway to EU market,” French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain tweeted.
The two Ministers stressed on the need for successfully negotiating the proposed India-EU FTA to give a further boost to bilateral trade and investments, a source following the matter told BusinessLine.
India-EU negotiations on the FTA has not yet been able to pick up pace because of lingering issues from the first phase of talks. Officials are, however, hopeful that talks would begin in full earnest soon.
“Riester and Goyal discussed WTO issues also, especially the on-going negotiations on curbing fisheries subsidies and ways in which access to Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics could be improved,” the source said.
The French Minister is also scheduled to go to Bengaluru, where he will visit Dassault Systemes, a company that provides businesses and people with collaborative 3D virtual environments to imagine sustainable innovations, according to a statement issued by the French Embassy in India on Wednesday.
He will visit the Indian company CENTUM Electronics, which has offices in France, providing precision micro electronics that are critical for applications in many sectors, including aerospace and defence.
Riester will meet representatives from French and Indian tech ecosystems, brought together by French Tech in Bangalore, which creates global connections for innovation, the release noted.
France is a significant trading partner with India in Europe, with total trade at $11 billion in 2019-20 which slipped to $9 billion in 2020-21 due to pandemic-related disruptions.