Following German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to India, ties between India and the European Union (EU) seem to be firming up once again with the resumption of free trade agreement talks and scheduling of the India-EU summit next year.

“The summit meeting will be held in first half of 2016. We are now working on mutually convenient dates,” the new Ambassador of EU to India Tomasz Kozlowski said here on Wednesday.

Negotiations to conclude the long-pending India-EU FTA or Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) are in a limbo since 2013. Decision to resume the talks earlier this year in August also got postponed with India protesting the ban on sale of drugs tested by Hyderabad-based GVK Biosciences.

However, according to Kozlowski, the issue does not hold merit anymore with both sides gearing up to open a “new page” in their bilateral ties. And this, he said, will be marked by the holding of the India-EU Summit when leaders from both sides will meet. The last summit was held in 2012.

“We are now set open a new page in our ties,” he said adding the two sides were also finalising a pact to facilitate better movement of people from India to EU and vice versa.

Adding that India is an engine of growth for the global economy, the new ambassador said, the FTA talks remained inconclusive for so long because both sides were not “satisfied” with the offers made under the talks.

Ever since the Narendra Modi-led government came to power, both the sides were caught in a minor tiff. Firstly, the 28-nation bloc failed to respond to Prime Minister Narendera Modi’s intention to visit Brussels when he visited other countries in Europe. Secondly, EU also did not respond to the Prime Minister’s queries on the GVK ban.

However, it is learnt that during the meeting between Merkel and Modi in October, the imbroglio was put to rest with both sides planning to start afresh.

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