Presidents of European Commission, European Council to be Chief Guests at This Year's Republic Day Parade

New Delhi: European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will pay a three-day State Visit to India from January 25 to 27 and will be Chief Guests at the 77th Republic Day celebrations.

During the visit, the leaders will also co-chair the 16th India-EU Summit to be held on January 27.

They will meet President Droupadi Murmu and hold restricted and delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An India-EU Business Forum is also expected to be organised on the sidelines of the India-EU Summit.

India and the European Union have been strategic partners since 2004. The 15th India-EU Summit was held virtually on July 15, 2020. Bilateral ties have expanded and deepened across a wide range of areas, particularly following the historic visit of the EU College of Commissioners to India in February this year, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a release.

The release said that the participation of EU leaders as Chief Guests at the 77th Republic Day and the 16th India-EU Summit will further deepen the India-EU Strategic Partnership and advance collaboration in priority areas of mutual interest.

President Costa and President von der Leyen are visiting India on invitation of PM Modi.

The visit of two leaders comes amid negotiations between India and the European Union for a Free Trade Agreement, which are at an advanced stage.

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said Thursday that as many as 20 out of 24 chapters under the ambitious India-EU FTA have been finalised, with a few issues remaining under ongoing negotiations.

He said both parties are "virtually engaged on a day-to-day basis", and are trying to see if we can meet the timeline before the leaders can meet, he said.

"We have closed 20 out of 24 chapters completely, there are few issues which are still ongoing negotiations, which we are virtually engaged on a day-to-day basis, and we are trying to see if we can meet the timeline before our leaders can meet," he said.

Agrawal said that both parties are trying to see that "we can meet that (January deadline) because that's a good occasion when our leaders are meeting, but we can only make efforts." "As I told you, coming near is not good enough," he said, however, adding a caveat.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, concluded a two-day visit to Brussels earlier this month, marking a significant step forward in the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.