India is engaging with the European Union (EU) on its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), to be rolled out from October this year, as it is not the bloc’s intention to create a barrier to trade but to find a way forward towards sustainability as part of collective efforts, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

“India and the EU are working together to find the right solution to the CBAM issue,” Goyal said while briefing the media after the 1st India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday.

India-EU FTA negotiations are progressing well, the minister said.

Also read: EU’s carbon tax could prove to be major challenge for Indian metal exports: GTRI report

According to Goyal, TTC is helpful as it is supplementing the India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations and the pact would make India-EU relationship the defining partnership of the century.

“India’s tariffs are often misconstrued to be very high on most items, including raw materials and intermediates, but in reality the duties are very low,” Goyal said. 

The actual applied rates of tariffs are lower than the agreed bound rates at WTO, he stressed, adding that the duties on technological items, that are helping the Indian economy grow, are very low. 

Also read: Preparing industry for Carbon Border Tax

Goyal appreciated the creation of TTC as a platform of coordination to address key issues related to trade, trusted technology and security between India and the EU. He further said that both India and the EU are open market economies, vibrant democracies and pluralistic societies driven by the common interest of security, prosperity and sustainable development.

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