NEW DELHI, February 28. /TASS/. India and the European Union have agreed to conclude a free trade agreement by the end of this year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced following talks with the European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen.

"We have instructed our teams to conclude a mutually beneficial bilateral free trade agreement by the end of this year," Modi said.

According to him, the parties agreed to expand cooperation in such areas as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and 6G.

"We have also decided to start a dialogue on space cooperation," the head of the Indian government added. He said that the topic of an agreement on investment protection and an agreement on geographical indications was also discussed during the talks with the head of the European Commission.

The European Commission Chief arrived in New Delhi on Thursday, accompanied by a large delegation of European commissioners. The EU and India began negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement in 2007, but they were suspended in 2013 due to disagreements over intellectual property rights, information security in IT companies and access of some goods, such as cars, to the common market. The talks resumed in 2022.