External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Friday expressed the hope that India and the EU, which have been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for almost 23 years, will conclude the pact by the end of this year.

”We just had a visit of the EU president with 21 commissioners to India, and we are perhaps a little bit more hopeful now that this exercise (FTA negotiations) would be brought to an end, ideally by the conclusion of this year,” he said in a speech on “India’s view of the world” at University College Dublin.

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Mr Jaishankar said India today finds increasing convergences with Europe as the country becomes a bigger economy. ”We are the fifth (largest economy) currently, we will be the third definitely by the end of this decade. There is a lot that we see going on with Europe, and again, Ireland as an integral part of that, would obviously reap the benefits,” he said.

The minister said India and Ireland have a “very robust level” of trade and the leading companies of both nations have established a presence in each other’s economies.

Highlighting ties between the two nations, Mr Jaishankar said, “Economically today we have a very robust level of trade, it’s currently estimated at 16 billion pounds, I suspect it’s a little larger and what’s interesting with Ireland is that actually our trade in services exceeds our trade in goods by a large margin, and that’s really for us quite unusual. And derives from the nature of the Irish economy. Now leading companies of both nations in various domains have established a presence in each other’s economies. Many of our IT majors are here. I think most of you know that some of our pharma companies are here, and I would say many of the household Irish names in terms of business have a long-established presence in India as well.”

He noted that tourism between the two nations is growing and expressed hope for a friendly visa policy. He said that various mechanisms are active between India and Ireland from a diplomatic standpoint.

He said, “Tourism between us is growing, our last figures for Irish tourists was about 44,000. And we certainly hope that a more friendly visa policy. Ambassador, please note by Ireland could see an increased flow of Indian tourists as indeed they go to many other international destinations. Education as is evident is I think being a really promising area of exchange. I came to Ireland with the belief that we had about 10,000 students here. I was told the numbers today closer to 13,000. And I do want to say this has been the subject of some initial conversations even today. Today again the numbers, the latest numbers I have is about 100,000. I think it’s making really a very serious contribution to Ireland’s national development.”

The foreign minister said India appreciates the steps taken by the successive Irish governments to improve the ease of working and living here. He said, “From a diplomatic standpoint, I can confirm that our various mechanisms are active, key agreements are in place, and overall I think there’s a good reason for us to feel good about the relationship, but yet be alert to the possibilities of how much more there is that we can do together.”

Highlighting India’s growth, he said, “Now, there are two thoughts which I think it’s important for people in Ireland to understand about India, particularly as we contemplate our future ties, one that today India is on a trajectory where it has, I would say decades of about 7 per cent plus minus growth ahead of it and that will create a new volume of demands a different pattern of consumption.”

”Obviously, a higher quality of life of economic capabilities and it’s visible in India in very different ways. I mean, whether it’s the number of airports we are building, we’re building on average about 7 airports a year, the growth in our highways, we are laying about 28 to 30 kilometres of highway a day. The fact even in education, you know that there have been almost 7000 new colleges that have come up in India in the last decade. So, there is a lot that is happening in India. There’s in India that is changing, which will be a very bigger presence in the global economy and certainly for a country like Ireland that is worth noting,” he added.