India and Bulgaria are intensifying their efforts to secure an early India-EU free trade agreement, aiming to boost economic cooperation amidst broader strategic collaborations in trade, technology, and defence.
India and Bulgaria have renewed their push for an early India-EU free trade agreement, saying the deal would strengthen commercial links at a time when both countries are looking to broaden economic ties. The message emerged during Foreign Office Consultations in New Delhi, where India’s Secretary (West), Sibi George, and Bulgaria’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Christo Polendakov, discussed the wider relationship between the two countries. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the talks covered trade and investment, science and technology, artificial intelligence, space and defence.
The consultations come against the backdrop of a more active diplomatic exchange this year. In June, India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, met Bulgarian leaders in Sofia and used the visit to underline what he described on X as a growing opportunity to deepen cooperation across strategic sectors. He said the two sides discussed trade, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, AI, space, defence, mobility, tourism and creative industries, while also reflecting on regional and global developments.
India and Bulgaria have also linked the trade discussion to broader India-EU relations. New Delhi and Sofia both see the pending free trade deal as a way to support supply-chain diversification and reduce dependence on more volatile markets. A report on the consultations said the discussions followed India-EU talks on tourism, hospitality and transport held on the sidelines of UNGA 81 in New York, suggesting that the bilateral agenda is increasingly being shaped by Europe-wide commercial priorities as well as by direct India-Bulgaria interests.
Beyond trade, the two governments have been widening the scope of engagement into areas such as defence, education, mobility and people-to-people contact. Jaishankar said in June that India and Bulgaria were committed to turning a long-standing friendship into a more forward-looking partnership, and the latest consultations indicate that both sides are now trying to give that language more practical content. The relationship rests on old cultural links and formal diplomatic ties dating back to 1954, but the current emphasis is on making the relationship more commercially useful and strategically relevant.
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