How do you view this victory of Narendra Modi and the BJP? And the way will it influence the Indian financial system?

We wish India to do effectively. This election has ensured that there’s political stability for the following 5 years. A decisive management would imply more durable selections, and no good governance is feasible with out powerful selections. The BJP-led NDA has a transparent mandate to take daring and progressive selections. Worldwide politics isn’t about zero-sum recreation and whereas India would economically interact different powers, EU has the potential to drive development in India. EU is already the only greatest buying and selling companion as a bloc, and is the only largest supply of FDI for India as a bloc. We’re prepared to satisfy India’s wants within the fields of expertise and funds.

You’ve gotten interacted with Modi when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister. How do you fee him as a frontrunner of contemporary India?

As a former Secretary of State for International Affairs and Cooperation of Portugal, I had interacted with numerous leaders worldwide and I can say that Mr Modi is among the many finest. He has readability of thought and clear imaginative and prescient of governance and that’s what India requires. He additionally has a really clear understanding of the challenges earlier than the nation. He is an efficient listener in addition to a very good talker and may interact in enriching discussions. No Prime Minister want to have communal strife on his document, and I’m sure that he wouldn’t enable any communal tensions in India. His precedence is to spice up the financial system and he has his eyes set on that.

The place do India-EU relations go from right here? What are the precedence areas for India-EU and what’s the way forward for Free Commerce Settlement that’s being negotiated for a few years now?

Negotiators from India and European Union are on the job to conclude the FTA. The proposed settlement will result in better openness. Up to now, EU held discussions with the BJP on the FTA. We take Mr Modi’s speech on financial points on February 27 as a constructive. I’ve little question that the FTA will profit India. We hope that there shall be progress in FTA earlier than the following India-EU Summit at Brussels.