Piyush Goyal Proposes 10x Trade Growth With Spain

India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal led a high-level delegation to Spain, Belgium, and Finland starting July 13, 2026, to deepen economic ties across Europe. In Madrid, Goyal met with Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo and Minister of Industry and Tourism Jordi Hereu to discuss collaboration in renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital technologies. Following a February meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, Goyal proposed a "10/10/10 partnership" aimed at increasing bilateral trade, investment, and tourist exchanges tenfold over the next 10 years.

Goyal expressed dissatisfaction with the existing goal of doubling bilateral trade every three years, arguing for more ambitious targets to reflect the scale of both economies. To achieve this, he welcomed a proposal from Carlos Cuerpo to develop a formal roadmap for future cooperation. Current bilateral trade for 2025-26 stands at USD 9.2 billion.

During the India-Spain Business Forum, Goyal announced that the India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2027. He stated that legal scrubbing of the text should conclude within two weeks. Goyal highlighted that the deal is unique for receiving unanimous political acceptance across all 27 EU member states. The EU pact is slated to follow the implementation of the India-UK FTA, which takes effect on July 15.