In May 2021, the EU and India announced the relaunch of negotiations for a free trade agreement. The possibility of such an agreement has been discussed for almost 15 years, but the inclusion of provisions on trade and sustainable development (TSD) has remained a key stumbling block. The first round of
negotiations should take place in June 2022.

Eurogroup for Animals and the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) call for the EU-India trade talks to include a strong animal welfare dimension when they restart, and on the EU and India to use existing political channels to set up cooperation on animal welfare in the meantime.

Over the past years, China’s political leadership has shown more openness to discussing animal welfare issues. The creation in 2013 of the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW), a government backed non-profit organisation dedicated to ‘promoting animal welfare concepts, implementing animal welfare friendly farming systems and improving the quality and safety of livestock products’, was a first important step.

Contrary to the EU’s reputation as a world leader in animal welfare, FTAs have included little to no farm animal welfare protection whilst allowing considerable liberalisation of trade in animal products. The EU’s importance on the global market and its reputation on animal welfare mean it has a decisive role to play on this issue in its bilateral and multilateral negotiations.