New Delhi, February 13:

India and the European Union (EU) began two days of trade talks in New Delhi today in a bid to boost bilateral economic ties shackled by differences on international trade issues. The talks, led by Indian commerce secretary S N Menon and the EU director general for trade, David O’Sullivan, mark the second time the two sides are meeting as members of a high-level trade group formed during an EU-India summit in the Indian capital in September.

The group met in Brussels in November, hoping to make progress on the key issues hampering trade between developed countries and developing economies — agricultural tariffs and market access.

Officials on both sides have said these are the very issues that need to be addressed to spur bilateral trade between the European countries and the South Asian giant, whose economy is growing at better than eight per cent. Although the EU is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade at around $41.2 billion, EU trade with South Korea stands at 48 billion euros while that with China amounts to 175 billion euros, according to EU officials.

India has been pressing for greater access to EU markets, while the EU has call-ed on not to block agricultural products.