New Delhi: The upcoming India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is set to be a significant economic milestone, according to Lithuanian Ambassador to India, Diana Mickeviciene.
She believes this pact will unlock vast technological and commercial opportunities, fostering stronger global supply chains.
With the formal signing anticipated next month, Mickeviciene expressed strong optimism that the agreement will come into force during Lithuania’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, which begins in January. “This is a very big achievement,” she stated, highlighting Lithuania’s readiness to promote and implement the FTA provisions.
The ambassador emphasized the complementary strengths of both India and the EU, particularly in high-tech sectors like telematics, lasers, artificial intelligence, biometrics, and fintech. She sees these areas as key drivers for expanding bilateral cooperation. “Lithuania, we are a small technology superpower. You are a big technology superpower and also a huge market… that’s going to be a big game changer,” Mickeviciene explained, noting how Lithuanian lasers could boost India’s smart manufacturing.
She also underscored the strategic role of the India-EU partnership in building secure supply chains for critical technologies. With a combined market of two billion people and 25% of global GDP, the EU and India have the potential to create resilient and trusted supply networks. “We need the scale, we need the demand, we need a partnership with a trusted partner, and then we can definitely draw our own supply chains,” she affirmed.
Regarding global diplomacy, Mickeviciene welcomed India’s recent initiative to stabilize Black Sea trade routes. While supporting India’s active stance, she urged New Delhi to use its influence with Moscow to encourage an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “We look at India as a friendly partner, but also as friends with Russia to somehow influence them to basically stop taking what’s never been theirs,” she added.