Mumbai, June 12 (IANS) Ireland is “really, really positive” on the European Union-India free trade agreement, which is very much going to support and propel the two-way trade between the two sides, its Consul General in Mumbai, Patrick Duffy, said.

“Essentially, we have agreed and created a free trade zone of two billion people. That’s an amazing achievement, and we can understand why leaders such as (European Commission) President Ursula von der Leyen and (Indian Commerce) Minister Piyush Goyal have referred to it as the mother of all trade deals,” Duffy told IANS in an exclusive interview.

He pointed out that the trade between the EU and India is already coming from a good base, with over 180 billion euros worth of goods and services being traded per year, with almost 10 per cent of that figure coming from trade between India and Ireland, “which is something to be proud of”.

Duffy said both sides stand to benefit from the increased competitiveness and openness that will come with this agreement. India will benefit from a massive new market, access to 450 million consumers in the European Union, and there’s a great keenness there to engage with India, for instance, in the tech and innovation sector, everything from that through to textiles, gems and jewellery and pharmaceuticals and so forth here.

“EU companies certainly will benefit from reduced tariffs into India on the likes of cars, on wine, on olive oil, and very importantly, as well for Ireland on spirits and on our whiskey as well,” he observed.

The Consul General further stated that for Ireland, there are areas where much more business can be done with India, also on high-end, high-tech services such as in the AI field, the life sciences, pharma and medtech, as well as fintech. Besides, continued enhanced cooperation in the likes of film and the cultural area, he added.

Duffy said that Ireland also wants to do a lot more in the research and innovation space and enter into key partnerships with third-level institutions and state agencies as well.

He further stated that for Ireland, the FTA is good in cybersecurity and software development as well, and India is looking at that part, too.

“So it is good that Ireland will provide this software, all the tie-ins between India and Ireland in the context of AI, in the context of cyber security, because we are seeing this geopolitical situation, mostly for cyber security, is the main part we have to focus on right now in this digital technology era. Both economies are very large in the technology and innovation space, so we definitely would see scope to collaborate,” Duffy said.

He also said that Ireland hosts the second-highest number of students from India in the European Union and would like to continue this good relationship in the higher education space.

–IANS

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