Brussels/Frankfurt, 7 May 2021 - Ulrich Ackermann, Managing Director of VDMA's Foreign Trade Department, says about the upcoming EU-India Summit:

“We hope that the EU and India will not only talk about the current pandemic crisis at their Summit, but also take concrete steps towards a Free Trade Agreement. It would be helpful for the recovery of the economy in India and Europe if negotiations were resumed. This way tariffs and non-tariff barriers could also be removed in the machinery sector. This would lead to a new impetus in trade relations with India and also open up new markets for Indian companies.

For machinery and plant manufacturers from Germany, India was the 19th most important export market worldwide in 2020. Goods worth around 2.3 billion euros were exported to the subcontinent. However, exports fell significantly by 23.5 per cent compared to 2019, mainly due to the effects of the Corona pandemic. A Free Trade Agreement with India would certainly catapult the country into the top-10 of our global export markets. And for India, it would open up a large sales market in Europe with around 450 million people.”