During his two-day visit to Brussels to attend the first Ministerial meeting of India-European Union Trade and Technology Council (TTC), Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Sh. Piyush Goyal was invited to attend the business meeting organised by Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB). The meeting was held at the Federation office wherein the Minister delivered a Keynote address.

The meeting was attended by more than 28 business delegates from the Belgium side along with six members of the Indian business delegation. Mr. Rene Branders, President of FEB gave the welcome remarks and the meeting was moderated by Mr Pieter Timmermans, CEO of FEB. In his keynote address, Sh. Goyal emphasised India’s 10x+ growth potential in the next 25 years which would reinforce its position as the fastest growing large economy, focus on 4Ts of Trade, Technology, Tourism and Talent, its ambitious mission for sustainability and renewable energy which is evidenced by its performance of achieving Paris targets in 2021 itself – 9 years ahead of schedule, etc.

This was followed by roundtable discussions which included testimonials from Belgium enterprises which are present and operating in India, testimonials from Indian and foreign companies present in Belgium and remarks from business organisations present during the meeting. The issues discussed during the roundtable include tariff and duties, protection of IPR, investments, need for regulations in waste management sector, reducing regulatory compliances, zero carbon technology and green financing, off-shore wind systems, etc.

In response to the round table discussion, Sh. Goyal under scored that there must be a level playing field for both the developed and emerging economies while addressing the global challenges such as climate issues. While India is committed to achieve its targets of net zero emissions, there should be meaningful contribution by all concerned and that commitments made under the Paris agreement must be adhered to by all countries. He also expressed hope that that the mechanism of India EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) could emerge as an effective platform for finding solutions to these challenges. The Minister also noted that Indian and EU share several common concerns with respect to WTO issues where their positions are largely aligned and therefore, through their collective efforts, could jointly contribute to find consensus-based solutions in the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference.

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