MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. India signed the "mother of all deals" with the EU, and Moscow is willing to act as a mediator between Iran and the United States. Meanwhile, Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected to visit Moscow later on Wednesday. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
On January 27, the European Union and India concluded talks on establishing a free trade zone, according to a statement from the 16th India-EU summit. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it the most important trade agreement of all time.
The Indian PM wrote on X that the "mother of all deals" was signed on January 26, when his country marked the 77th Republic Day. In 2024, trade between the EU and India amounted to 120 billion euros, according to Eurostat, with India being the bloc’s ninth-largest trade partner and the EU being India’s second-largest trade partner.
The deal is a win for India, Gleb Makarevich, junior researcher at the Center for Indo-Pacific Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, told Vedomosti. For India, it entails the development of an export-oriented economy, the construction of new businesses, the creation of new jobs as well as the resolution of socio-economic problems, Makarevich said. India is pursuing the key goal of 8% annual GDP growth, and New Delhi realizes that exports to a vast and solvent market would contribute to reaching that. India had been in talks with Brussels since 2007, but those accelerated last year under tariff pressure from US President Donald Trump, Makarevich acknowledged.
