Negotiating teams from India and the EU are meeting in Brussels this week, starting Monday, to sort out lingering problems in the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in areas such as automobiles, alcoholic beverages, services and quality standards, sources said.

The effort will be to try and bridge differences to the extent possible with focus on the year-end deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EU President Ursula von der Leyen for wrapping up the trade negotiations. The deadline has added significance with US President Donald Trump imposing tariff and other barriers on the country’s trade partners.

New Delhi may also try to persuade the EU, its top trading partner, to extend some investment commitments encouraged by similar concessions given in the bloc’s trade deal with

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